King Bran
by Supikun
Summary: Playformat based on the life of the king that succeeded King Lear. This is loosely based on the Welsh Mabinogion of Legend, wherein the story is related. I only set it into prose.
1. Lines of blood

King Bran  
  
Cast in Order of Appearance  
  
Witches (From Mac Beth)  
  
Falcon  
  
Lord Albany (From King Lear)  
  
Kent (From King Lear)  
  
Edgar (From King Lear)  
  
Ailill of Aran, Irish Lord  
  
Josephe, Priest  
  
Alan, Priest  
  
Branwen, Princess  
  
Bran. Previously Prince Camaalis, later King Bran  
  
King of France  
  
Bride, Goddess  
  
Riannon, Argente's cousine  
  
Argente. Previously Sibille, Later Vivienne  
  
Manawwydan, Riannon's husband, brother of King Bran  
  
Matholwch, Irish Tyrant  
  
Eliawras, druid  
  
Nissyen of Euroswyod, treasurer  
  
Caradoc, Prince and heir to King Bran  
  
Pryderi ApPwwyll, Welsh Lord  
  
Tengau Eurfan, Lady of Court  
  
Bulle the Butcher, actor  
  
Horse the Tanner, actor  
  
Hounde the Mercer, actor  
  
Boare the Limner, actor  
  
Ravene the Habidasher, actor  
  
Swane the Cordwainer, actor  
  
Rate the Chandler, actor  
  
Deere the Fuller, actor  
  
Faune the Vintner, actor  
  
Fand, Lady over Ulster  
  
Gwawl Llwyd, Nobleman  
  
Act 1  
  
Scene 1 Cave  
  
WITCH 1  
  
Salmon fed all its life on acorns, beer drilled out of a mountain, immortal  
  
apples of gold, feathers from the phoenix ready to burst and be  
reborn,  
  
apples form Eden's tree of knowledge, Pandora's hair, dragon's  
pearls,  
  
drops of our blood, super strings, philosopher's stone, and other  
  
knowledgeable things (1). Set in the brew that Bith, son of Noah, the people of Japheth, Formorii all to the emerald scepter'd realm come to rest (2). Holy flower of the Northern Star is found in the field of Lilies, aconite, leaves of the poplar, burned ashes of owl and viper lain on coals.  
  
WITCH 2  
  
Round this cauldron we throw out envenomed arts like the Muses all, what was now is and will be. Nemedian; Firbolg from the deep swamps; the Dannan with spear, stone, cauldron and sword. (2,3) Juice of the poppy, bloody-  
fingers sliced red like the gloves of a fox would wear, cinquefoil, the  
worker's bee-combs, lanoline, almond and oil.  
  
WITCH 2  
  
Bubble, bubble; toil and trouble; fire burn cauldron bubble.  
  
[Enter Witch 3]  
  
So Tara's kings were enthroned to pass when the sons of Mil came with hard  
hearts. (2,3)  
  
WITCH 3  
  
What is this work you do, that keeps you sisters from our loom's weaving?  
  
WITCH 2  
  
Weave, measure, and cut - so much so that every man takes his due without  
thanks.  
  
WITCH 1  
  
That is the way of things ordained before the Gods and after them, sill  
  
concerns me what se set into this pot, what do we make?  
  
WITCH 2  
  
One to give recompense, a servant of Fortune's lots in Albion's blissful  
  
realm, where in the heirs of Brutus once lived. (4)  
  
WITCH 3  
  
Ah! Oh earth set by those brave descendants of burned Troy has seen too  
  
much of war. Peace must be won.  
  
[She takes the witches' hands]  
  
Then like a ring-stone round, we clasp hands and sang a mummer's tune. (5)  
  
WITCH 1  
  
Nightshade, so deadly and vile, henbane, wild celery, parsley, and lard of the freshly slaughtered male sow. Porrex of Brutus and Abion's blood over-  
came by the lion from Cornwall, Aedd's heir, Prydein. (6)  
  
WITCH 2  
  
Of the Nemedian clan, Britain gave the nation a truer name so came into the  
brew mint, oil of Athena's tree, and on the night of Sirius raised no  
moon we not touch the wood vervain we collected into our iron pot. (7)  
  
WITCHES  
  
Round the cauldron we go in our fairy rings making our tracks commanding  
the Sun, Moon and Stars to ebb and flow. Burn brews, burn, make it  
light that our curse will be won this night.  
  
WITCH 3  
  
Heart of the peaceful dove, liver of the sparrow, womb of the twice-caught  
swallow, kidney of the hare, blooded of the blackened cat spilt as did Alexander the Macedonian come to the isle to be taught by Sebille, mother  
of Bestis Perceforest and Gaddifer the Scot, so to conquer and bring  
Greek to the land of India (8).  
  
WITCH 1  
  
An in this same cave did Bethides spurn sister Circe, who brought the Romans to the land. (9) Mandragras from the gallows's tree washed in wine sacramental, orange, ambergris, bryony's fern seeded collected on the  
night  
  
of Saint John goes in  
  
WITCHES  
  
Bubble, bubble; toil and trouble; fire burn cauldron bubble. Ring around  
the rosy, pocket of posy, ashes, ashes, we all fall down. Three times  
three is nine, turning to the right in Holy round.  
  
WITCH 2  
  
All the past lords and Kings Albion, Brutus, Lorcrinus near Sylvinus and Scanius, Maddan and Mempricus and Ebraucus Albanact into Hades  
follow one by one. (10) The flayed cat set the man's fat and marrow a gleam, brains of the Morrigan crow, bloodstone like jasper with red flames  
dives away the night demons that violate this virgin oil.  
  
WITCH 3  
  
Rose, gardenia, carnation, lemon peel, and flowers that smell good on the  
funeral piers of Ebraucus Albanct and Bestis, Brutus Greenshield and  
Porrex and Prydein, Britain and Leil (10).  
  
WITCHES  
  
Round this ring-stone round - our hair in the breeze, our legs tied with  
  
green snake garters we dance most exuberantly  
  
WITCH 2  
  
Dragon's teeth and Blood, brains of raven, fat of elfin cat, apples of the Blessed Isle, galls of the oak's wasp, hazelnuts and acorns' might set this to light. Leil and Bethides, Rud Hud Hudibras; Bladbud, builder of bath and  
  
fell like Icrus to Marlini's Lylr (10, 11)  
  
WITCH 1 [Thunder]  
  
Soft now, Norns watch and see. (12)  
  
[Appear Falcon in the Cauldron]  
  
What has been made this night?  
  
WITCH 3  
  
What is he? Man, magician, Atlantis-survivor, dragon, elf, angel, bastard,  
  
changeling, fairy, prince, druid, sorcerer, scholar, or devil?  
  
WITCH 2  
  
He looks like dung to me, sisters.  
  
FALCON  
  
[bows]  
  
So you say Parcae mothers. (12) I prefer to be a bird larger than the sparrow hawk controlling all things (13) May it be Water, Earth at the  
Devil's door, AIR by knots in a hellebore and cannabis rope; Fire and corpse light, and the unknown element sought by the philosophers all bow to me. Dutifully, I serve you my Decumba mothers equally so that I can get to  
fest on thunderbolts before I got myself born. (11)  
  
WITCH 1  
  
Well done, our boy, Child of Destiny.  
  
FALCON  
  
Thank you, dear Nona. (11) Now please excuse me, like the foxfire leading travelers to doom I go with knife, censer, pentacle, sword, wand,  
and casting lots to rest peace from hot-blooded Mars.  
  
WITCH 3  
  
Then go, child with no father.  
  
[To Withes]  
  
Now, sisters we can go back to our weaver at our loom like Clotho... (14)  
  
WITCH 2  
  
Like Atropos... (14)  
  
WITCH 1  
  
Like Lanchesis. (14)  
  
FLACON  
  
Adieu, wyrd mothers.  
[Bows, exit saying in a chant]  
  
Good by this dragon-maker must go. Seven by seven. Samhain, Modranacht, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltaine, Walpurga's day, All's Fool's day, Lith and Mabon  
is set as year's  
  
Hollow'd eves. (15)  
  
Extent  
  
Cliff notes to Scene One  
  
One -  
  
A list of things that contain knowledge of things, of good and evil. These things are cast into the cauldron creating Falcon, who is set as "bastard,  
changeling, dragon's son, demon's son, survivor of Atlantis, druid, magician, wizard, maker of kings" also known as Merylin. Merylin's name in Latin is "Merdus" (Dung), yet in Welsh means "Sparrow Hawk." So as Merylin and child of the wyrd sisters, Falcon is to make a new king yet wait for a greater one to come, Arthur Pendragon (Pendragon means "High Dragon"). He has all knowledge of all things that happens on the stage as well as what  
may come in the future.  
  
Two -  
  
Record of the Invasions of Ireland -- Bith, son of the Biblical Noah came first followed by Japheth, then the Fomorii, the Nemedians, the Firbolg,  
the Danann, and the sons of Mil  
  
Three -  
  
Sword, Cauldron, Spear, and Stone are the symbols of authority given by the  
Dannan, the Celtic Gods, to rule Tara, the Capital of Ireland.  
  
Four -  
  
Albion, son of Poseidon, first ruler of England. His daughter or  
granddaughter married Brutus, an heir of Aeneas of Troy.  
  
Five -  
  
Ring-stone round = Stonehenge  
Mummer's tune = Ring around the Rosy  
  
Six -  
  
Porrex, grandson of Brutus was defeated by Prydein, Son of Aedd, giving the  
land the name briefly Prydein  
  
Seven -  
  
Britain, son of Nemedian, gave the nation a proper name - Britain  
  
Eight -  
  
Alexander of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, was said in his youth to have visited England to learn war from the current Lady of the Lake, Sebille, who bore him sons named Bestis and Gaddifer, who Alexander set one to rule  
England and the other to rule Scotland.  
  
Nine -  
  
Bethides, grandson of Bestis, was the lover of the Witch Circe and spurned by him, she brought the Romans to rule England. As a witch, Circe, would be  
their sister  
  
Ten - List of mythical kings that ruled England, who most of the monarchy that  
ruled Great Britain believes they are descended from.  
  
Eleven -  
  
Marlini's Llyr, another name for King Lear  
  
Twelve -  
  
Decumba, Norns, Nona, Parcae = the Fates  
  
Thirteen -  
  
A bird larger than a sparrow hawk, a Falcon  
  
Fourteen -  
  
Clotho, Atropos, Lanchesis - the Fates  
  
Fifteen -  
  
The Pagan calendar's sacred days 


	2. The King is Dead, Long Live Who?

The King Is Dead, Long Live Who?  
  
Act 1  
  
Scene 2: Funeral for King Lear  
  
ALBANY  
  
We are not brother kings, lord Kent and it hardens the heart so much that  
  
we could do nothing in our part.  
  
KENT  
  
Help me take up the shift. Regan, Goneral, Cordelia, Oswald, and Edmond are  
  
in Charon's hands now. (1) Now we must place our lord king to rest.  
  
[Sees Ailill]  
  
Clear the way cur, or have you no respect for our morning.  
  
ALBANY  
  
Hold, brother Kent, do you not see who stands before thee? The Aran's Ailill, cursed to watch the geese Fionnualla, Aedh, Fiachna, and Conn for these grandchildren transfixed by his own child. (2)  
  
KENT  
  
Stand aside gander. I am in no mood for a fight.  
  
AILILL  
  
Though Matholwch from the tyrant Marholch stole his axe and makes war to take the Liagh Fail for himself. (3, 4) He can do this for he sees that one here can sit there in that Siege. (5)  
  
ALBANY  
  
If only is a game for fools and you playing it well.  
  
EDGAR  
  
Fools may be, may be not. Ho! Ho! Lord Ailill of Aran speaks true, wee need a man worthy of the stone of destiny for if anyone false sits on it the ground will swallow him up. Though forbidden by Lir, I know of one that can, though our king forbade me to speak his name (6).  
  
KENT  
  
Vow safe Edgar, we will follow your lead to this man yet let us take this sea lord to his rest (6).  
  
Extent. Kent, Albany, Edgar, and Ailill with King Lear's Corpse  
  
Cliff notes for Act 1 Scene 2:  
  
One:  
  
Regan, Goneral, Cordelia, Oswald, and Edmond died in Shakespeare's "King Lear." Lear also died in the play itself; this is where the part continues after Lear's death.  
  
Two:  
  
According to Irish legend, Ailill's daughter, Aoife, laid a curse on her nieces and nephews - Fionnualla, Aedh, Fiachna, and Conn - for being rejected by Lear or Bran as geese. Fionnualla, Aedh, Fiachna, and Conn like- wise being children of Lear or Bran could succeed to the throne.  
  
Three:  
  
Matholwch, Irish tryant, son of Marholch. He will marry Bran's sister and be the instrumental cause of Bran's death.  
  
Four:  
  
Liagh Fail, the stone of destiny where kings are enthroned. This might also be the origin for the Sword in the Stone, the author is not certain on this.  
  
Five:  
  
Siege or throne, could be a reference to Siege Perilous at King Arthur's Round Table. If anyone false (or unworthy of the title) sat in the chair, the ground would swallow him up.  
  
Six:  
  
Lir, a God of the Sea, or King Lear. 


	3. Corination of a King

Glastonbury  
  
Act 1 Scene 3 Glastonbury  
  
PARLAN [scribing at a book with other monks] (1)  
  
Books, books, books. Copying every jot and tittles in ink and gold making  
a holy story told - though we keep a cup of better blood (2).  
  
JOSEPHE (3)  
  
Tired already Anfortas-child, or is it the mortal wound that bothers you? Against my advice you sought to take the chalice for yourself. For you dared to set David's strange renges form its bounds and was struck in  
the thigh by Goon Desert. (4)  
  
PARLAN  
  
Your father Arimathea's promise of the goblet. For he set out with the spawn of Jessie's rod rose with Lazarus, Martha, and the Magdalene to Gaul to baptize. (5) You, Alan, Brons, and the faithful to this holy spot  
on your coat threads came to rest. Where in anger your staff took root,  
Josephe, in makings of the thorn-tree like that which a Jew king was  
pegged on. (5)  
  
ALAN [Strikes him] (6)  
  
That is for cursing against the high, Parlan. Brother and Cousin Josephe,  
this Frimutal-scribe is right though. We need to see who will take on  
the cup of the fisher of men.  
  
JOSEPHE  
  
Nay, child of Brons and Enygeus, I trust in the high that can guard  
the cup, until it fads into the hearts of men for that is where faith should lie. We have approached Bran without success. We must discuss what  
should be done with the remaining children of Lear.  
  
PARLAN  
  
What should be done, brother? The fourth daughter of his wife, Queen Iweriadd, had against her father's orders followed taking the veil in  
due suit of her brother's tonsure. (7)  
  
ALAN  
  
Yea, the brother seen by his revered father baptized, beard and head shaven as abatements is set as stynaude turncoat. From that point on, a vow of silence in these walls proceeded. Though Branwen has spoken against her sisters most foul. Regan and Goneral with their lovers divided the realm while the rex was alive and usurped him. Cordelia abandoned her father to their squabbles as she bedded the Gaulish king. The husbands died, Cordelia returned, the loyal ones restored the King, Cordelia to hang herself, and  
on hearing of his favorite daughter's death, his heart cracked and the  
king died. (8)  
  
JOSEPHE  
  
The Gaul king does not envy the throne, yet an Irish one does. If he takes the Liagh Fail, Matholwch will come here to kill the last of Lear's line  
and meet the Gaul in horrible fight in this land.  
  
ALAN  
  
We must think of the souls, our mission to teach the word. For if they fight it be better for us to go to the Holy See and report of failure  
to convert this land.  
  
JOSEPHE  
  
What? And abandon our flock? We are judged on how we treat others, Brother Alan. We should aid the sick, wounded, and war widows, not choosing between  
either sides. The high should not interfere with the acts of states or the actions of biology; our duty is only for souls. Nor use the dead for  
an excuse and us as a reason to steal the liberties of others. (9)  
  
PARLAN  
  
True. For the way to salvation is not prevay to anyone who thinks they are  
saved. God does not play favorites choosing one nation over another,  
choose one man over another, he must save and choose all. (9)  
  
ALAN  
  
We are justified in our faith alone, we do not deed the cup - we only keep  
it here until it disappears. For in due faith and on this rock I stand,  
for the barn of Avon be-ist a Lutheran. (9)  
  
Another Part of Glastonbury  
  
BRAN (10)  
  
In the fur of the black wolf Prince Camaalis I was, Lear's only con making oaths to one-eyed Wotan. The live of a prince was mine, taught all the arts  
to rule as deemed by Jupiter, I was engaged to all three daughters of Ailill. With in the span of a psalm I made Aebh, Aiofe, and Arbha virgin  
not. Out of the bed of ladies I jump to fight by Mars to conqueror Brittany, Channel Islands, Shetland Calais slicing many beards off. The corpses of the slain, beaten, strangled, stab in curse of Dagda I  
fling into the peat and moors. Then back to the beds of my fiancés,  
Regan, Goneral, Cordelia, and my other sister raping them in an inch of  
their lives My dear father, King Lear, with price gave me many a title, laurel and olive crown that I did not deserve. Fouly Aoife, in hatred of me and her sisters two became poisonous blight. I played at being a prince. I set out to hunt those with their foreskin clipped chasing them with hounds,  
the baptized ones and them I bring their families and children to me. I toss the children to wild bears and if they made a sound, I burn them at  
the stake. Arbha fell to Holly root and by moly so did Aebh fall.  
  
[enter Dragonfly (11)]  
  
In course Ailill's grandchildren, out of wedlock had made into geese to fly here and there until a northern price weds a southern one. In due to Thor's  
law I prepared to slice my fiancé's head off. Lo in the sky filled with great tumult I see a cup and hear, as did Paul, "My son, my son, my son.  
Why do you persecute me? For in me you will find salvation."  
  
BRANWEN  
  
Indeed, brother, for I saw it too. You dropped hammer to the ground and sent in search of this mystery. I quickly proceeded after; though your half-sister I was I liked being your mistress. Oh what humor wooed that my brother Prince Camaalis can satisfy four women in one night, while most men cannot even handle one. Better still is our late father, in his prime could  
bed a whole army in less time than what is measured in a glass.  
  
BRAN  
  
To Arimathea's Joseph I approached, I learned the word and in thirteen moons, he baptized Camaalis as Bran and you as Branwen. Beard and head clipped clean, for in hair is thought to lie a part of sovereignty, I approached the king, our father. To him we were now dead, I have not left  
Glastonbury stead. On advice of the Fathers Jospehe and Alan, I have  
stepped, dear sisters.  
  
DRAGONFLY  
  
Wait, wait. What do I hear and see? You spoke! Since childhood I knew Bran's kind face an actions, yet not a word. Why for you break your  
vow?  
  
BRAN [enter Falcon, invisible]  
  
It was time to do so, Grail Maiden Dragonfly.  
  
FALCON [invisible]  
  
Ha! None see me now. For here is the Grail Maiden Dragonfly. Dragonfly cute and innocent in the world flusters so at him and hearing his voice for the first time. And here is Bran, son of Queen Penardun ApDon, once a prince  
who not a mile hence Kent and others see out. It is Ailill and Edgar suggests him to succeed his father, which is very just. I must now play my part true to my hawkish nature while riding deer like horses. They will not accept him as is, nor will he want to take King Lear's mantle as his own,  
so I must rest him to it.  
  
DRAGONFLY  
  
Um.Is not this a fine day, even with the starting rain?  
  
FALCON [invisible]  
  
Me thinks there is more here than meets the eye between the maiden and the  
once prince; however, now I must not play a cupid just yet. I have work  
to do.  
  
[sings]  
  
Sleep dear once prince and ladies and dream dreams of the dragon. For lo  
was there an enormous wolf who with one yelp could swallow the world.  
In fear of that cure he must be bound.  
  
BRAN  
  
What has come over me? My joins and articles move against  
themselves.  
  
DRAGONFLY  
  
[enter Kent, Albany, Edgar, Ailill, and others]  
  
So do mine, help me!  
  
FALCON  
  
[sings]  
  
For lo was there an enormous wolf who with one yelp could swallow  
the world. In fear of that cure he must be bound. To be bound by the bravest god Tyr had to place his hand in the cur's mouth. Reeling from this  
loss of an arm, Tyr sough the Erkoing, lord of Svartalfar, for a  
replacement. (12) Lo look there Albany and Kent arguing like a wedded couple. I must change their minds also. Ho! Ho! So much fun this is, being  
trickster, druid, magician, sorcerer, scholar and maker of kings. Come,  
come, come. Come all and listen to this song. Without an arm, Tyr was provided with one. The king of the Dark Elves, Erkoing, with Thor's glove and hammer on Hephaestus's forge struck a bolt of Jove into steel. There he  
was, the first sword in existence. The sword of power shimmered in the Sun's rays in hues that could add colors to the rainbow. To Dagda's advice  
not letting  
  
war besmirch its' sacred nature, is must be put away. To spike wrathful Aries, Tyr flung the first sword into a loch and it was never seen again.  
  
EDGAR  
  
Hold there. Who are thou in this storm, unnatural?  
  
FALCON  
  
Now I appear as my cue.  
  
[He becomes visible, bows]  
  
I am Falcon, child of Fate. Harken unto me, your lords and laity, for now a  
king is to be made.  
  
DRAGONFLY  
  
What unholy thing art thou, Falcon? Incubus?  
  
FALCON  
  
Nay, Grail Maiden, I am the child of the Norns. Past, present, and Future.  
Now silence all I shall reveal unto you a goddess. Come Bride. (13)  
  
[Enter Bride in a shower of apple blossoms]  
  
This beautiful woman wearing an aegis of armor marked with Medusa's face,  
carrying an orb and a staff and a sword. Affixed with the wings of an angel, and set with a crown. The crown rounded by clover, leak, thistle, nd  
red and white roses. (13)  
  
ALBANY  
  
What is before my sight? This lady form the very earth and sky that shines like that of the fiery arrows loosed form the bows of archangels setting  
Sodom to rout. I fear I may too turn into salt.  
  
KENT  
  
Hole there, brother Albany, what trickery is this? Who is this  
lady, I demand?  
  
FALCON  
  
A queen and bride  
  
[bows]  
  
of the highest Dragon.  
  
BRIDE  
  
Silence knavish uncle, you did not summon me. I came out of my own accord.  
  
FALCON  
  
Then pardon, I ask of you, Queen Bride, please choose a king for this is  
Fates' decree.  
  
BRIDE  
  
Anon, I shall. I, Bride, stand before and look at thee, Camaalis cum Bran the Christened. Jacob's pillow I claim as mine, in Egypt I sat and moved to  
my fireside. Of Kildaire is my shrine pagan though later it will  
be converted such, of Tara, of Dunstaffnage, of Camelot, of Scone,  
of Westminster's halls, I enthrone. (14)  
  
[kisses Bran]  
  
Why do you fluster so, am I not beautiful?  
  
BRAN  
  
The most I have ever seen.  
  
[Dragonfly clears he throat much to Falcon's amusement]  
  
BRIDE  
  
Good, that is so. For I am the highlands, the smoky moors, the  
lochs, rivers, hills, fields, flowers, forests, lowlands, islands and waters, and all that brings all my children to think of me. To think of my Albion and Eire, my Prydien, and my Britian. Now as Bride of Britain, take  
this silver branch and be a just and good king.  
  
[She crowns him]  
  
All hail King Bran, son of Lear.  
  
ALBANY  
  
What as is this you conjure?  
  
DRAGONFLY  
  
The most unholy kind - summoning a pagan spirit and giving it the wings of  
an angel.  
  
BRIDE  
  
Nay, dear Dragonfly, fear not me. I will be baptized a saint, myself. Falcon summoned me not, how could one summon the spirit of England when it lies within all your hearts? Camaalis, the wrathful Prince, is no more. High King Bran has been chosen to rule. My arrows, armor, orb, bow,  
and blade are his to have. He is the land and the land is him, until a greater king comes to marry me and take my crown. Now you faithless curs,  
hail your monarch as due his office.  
  
[vanishes in a shower of apple blossoms]  
  
Good by, I shall wait to wed a greater king than Bran.  
  
FALCON [bows]  
  
Faith thee well, brave Bride of Britain, for the one greater then King  
Bran will be a bear-man.  
  
ALBANY  
  
Ailill you Irish dog, what do you contrive with this foul druid?  
  
EDGAR  
  
I do not believe my eyes yet I see that here comes the Gaul king over  
the dale.  
  
[Falcon starts to leave, enter the King of France]  
  
Where now do you go, magician?  
  
KENT  
  
I saw this sight and do believe, this man is our king. So, Albany, are  
you with us or against us?  
  
KING OF FRANCE  
  
Though I have claim to your throne by my late wife, Cordelia, I do not seek  
it myself. Heaven has given you a king that stands here; for I far off  
saw this miracle as well.  
  
ALBANY  
  
By what right, foreign frog-spotted sycophant? (15)  
  
  
FALCON  
  
By every right, he can say such. For his army stands there,  
Albany, sharpening their implements of war.  
  
BRAN  
  
[aside to Falcon]  
  
What are you doing to me! I do not want to be king!  
  
FALCON  
  
Good, for it is far better if a nation is ruled by a man who does not  
want to do so than one who does.  
  
ALBANY  
  
Hesitant on the French expectations, I will serve you faithfully.  
  
  
[He kneels]  
  
High King Bran.  
  
ALL  
  
All Hail High King Bran!  
  
[lifts him up on their shoulders - him protesting all along]  
  
When Zordok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon King, all the people rejoy'd and said, "God save the King, Long Live the King, May  
  
the King live forever."  
  
KING BRAN  
  
So be it. I will be in this office most sacred. Where gorly and worship  
  
has laid on me...  
  
[aside to Dragonfly]  
  
Truthfully, I do not like this title I have been given, I only do  
so  
  
because I fear something may happen to someone dear to me as you  
art.  
  
DRAGONFLY  
  
Then I will always stand next to you, for you art my friend and  
king.  
  
Extent.  
  
Cliff Notes For Act 1 Scene 3  
  
One:  
  
Parlan. Grail King  
  
Two:  
Cup of better blood. The Holy Grail  
  
Three:  
  
Josephe. Grail King, son of Joseph of Arimathea  
  
Four:  
  
Parlan attempted to pull out the Sword of King David, the sword of Strange Renges from its bounds in attempt to claim the Grail for himself, and was  
struck in the thigh by Goon Desert its protector. Thus he is called Anfortas (or Frimutal) for this Dolorous Stroke. Mortally wounded Parlan waits for one to claim the grail and let him die. He will have to wait a  
very long time.  
  
Five:  
  
After Jesus' death Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary Magdalene sailed to Gaul to baptize with the Holy Grail. Josephe, Alan, and others took the Grail or Christianity to England where in anger Josephe stuck his staff into the ground becoming a thorn-tree, very similar to the wood for  
making Roman Crosses.  
  
Six:  
  
Alan, Grail King. He is the son of Brons and Enygeus, daughter of Joseph of  
Arimathea, and ergo Josephe's cousin.  
  
Seven:  
  
Queen Iweriadd, wife of King Lear, had four daughters - Regan, Goneral, Cordelia, and one unnamed other. The last took up the veil, became the nun  
Branwen.  
  
Eight:  
  
Plot of King Lear  
  
Nine:  
  
Lutheranism, Shakespeare was most likely a Lutheran.  
  
Ten:  
  
Bran is giving his list of crimes when he was Prince Camaalis, which basically shows him as a bad pagan tyrant who loved nothing and no one - he  
breaks all the commandments and is still saved by baptism.  
  
Eleven:  
  
Dragonfly, the Grail Maiden, could be based on the idea of the name  
Pendragon, which means High Dragon.  
  
Twelve:  
  
Creation of the first sword according to the Vikings - the first sword,  
Excalibur.  
  
Thirteen:  
  
Bride is an ancient name for the Celtic deity Brighid, "Fiery arrow", she  
is the origin for Saint Brigit and the goddess Britannia, who marries  
worthy kings, she is waiting to marry a "a bear man". The name of King  
Arthur is of possible Celtic origin coming from "artos viros" or "arth  
gwyr", which means "bear man". She is wearing her traditional garb as a  
goddess (armor marked with Medusa's face, wings of an angel, carrying a  
sword and a longbos, and an orb) except for the crown - clover, leak,  
thistle, and red and white roses:  
  
Clover, Ireland; Leak, Wales; Roses, York and Lancaster.  
  
Fourteen:  
  
Places where kings were enthroned on the Liagh Fail, the Stone of Destiny,  
Jacob's pillow, the Stone of Scone.  
  
Fifteen:  
  
Frog-spotted. According to legend, the three frogs preceded the Fleur-de-  
lies, the symbol for France in Heraldry. 


	4. Caladbolg, Hard Lighting

A sword  
  
Act 1 Scene 4 - Stonehenge  
  
WITCHES  
  
[WEAVING THREAD]  
  
Into this dark world men are born like every other natural thing, man lives  
on taking fair and foul weather, and like  
  
all natural things death takes he due and away to a place that none have return'd. To the land beyond the stars as an angel, to Tartarus, or  
the land of dreams.  
  
WITCH2  
  
[MEASURING THE THREAD]  
  
Lo, here come our impish son.  
  
[Enter FALCON]  
  
To give report as we sit in this temple of standing stones (1).  
  
WITCH1  
  
[at the spinning wheel]  
  
Of thing we already know.  
  
FALCON  
  
Ho ho what fun it was. Hail verthandi mothers darning the lots of men,  
cabbages, and kings (2).  
  
[He kisses each of them]  
  
Dearest, beautiful skuld ladies, I serve you three equally. (2) Dutifully I  
have set the son of Lear as divine High King. (4)  
  
WITCH 2  
  
[adding more length to the sting]  
  
Though, High King Bran is having a bad time to maintain his position - he  
needs a sword.  
  
FALCON  
  
Done.  
  
[bows]  
  
I will find one for him that suits a High King's metal. Please excuse my  
leaving urd mothers; I must fly  
  
[transforms into a hawk and flies off]  
  
WITCH 3  
  
[slices the string with scissors]  
  
What is this I see? A greater king? With Bran's sword?  
  
WITCH 1  
  
What? Tell us Decumba sister.  
  
WITCH3  
  
There on the white cliff a mist rises during a horrible war.  
  
The mist parted to reveal a great host, a titanic ghostly army of the long dead brave. At its head, the High King greater than Bran with a Godly sword saying unto the evil army across in Gaul that if the crooked-  
cross is set her, he with one blow will send them back again. (3)  
  
WITCH 2  
  
So it is to be spoken.  
  
WITCH 1  
  
So it must be true.  
  
Cliff notes to Scene 4  
  
One:  
  
Temple of standing stones, Stonehenge  
  
Two:  
  
Verthandi, Skuld, Urd - the Viking Norns, or Fates (Decumba)  
  
Three:  
  
There are reports during the blitz, World War Two that the ghost of  
  
King Arthur with an army was seen marching at the White Cliffs of Dover ready to repulse the Nazi Invasion (crooked-cross, is Nostradamus's  
term for the swastika) , there was a photograph of it!  
(However the photo was lost or suppressed by the British government)  
  
Four:  
  
I might as well explain how many wives Lear had. His first wife was Iweriadd, Queen of the Irish and aunt of the tyrant Matholwch, by her he  
had Regan, Branwen, Goneral, and others. His second wife, Penardun, daughter of Don, was the mother of Prince Cammalis, who was baptized Bran by Joseph of Arimathea. He had several mistresses, including Euroswydd, who  
is the mother of Nissyen. 


	5. Caladbolg, Sword of Celts

Sword 2  
  
Act 1 Scene 5  
  
The Isle of Man (1)  
  
RHIANNON (2)  
  
How fairs it dear sister? You keep your tress well tended. The elm and silver pine, birch, oak, white poplar and aspen, ivy, white thorn, yew  
for strong bow, rowan and mountain ash, vine full of sweet grapes to  
partake  
  
ARGENTE  
  
Cousin Mermaid, you did not come here to admire the horticulture of  
the land of apples, which by the many trees set here in the  
dreaming received this name. (1)  
  
MANAWYDDAN (3)  
  
To keep you company dear lady of all the waters fro whom all  
the lochs and rivers do obey.  
  
RHIANNON  
  
[aside]  
  
Ha! My husband, that Manawyddan, having many children seeks her to his bed forgetting me like the wasterial waters tossed out the window. The waste to  
fall on the lady while the good gentlemen stepest in the street away  
from this drenching. (4)  
  
[Enter FALCON in disguise of a hawk]  
  
How honorable is that for a man, my foul lir-ed husband. (3)  
  
ARGENTE  
  
Your poetry bores me, Lord Manawyddan, it is of no interest to me.  
Come bird, perch here.  
  
[holds out her arm, FALCON lands on her fist]  
  
Just as a trained hawk should... Manawyddan take that as example for like the wolf and the bird of pray mate for life. I will not be your secondary  
wife. (5)  
  
FALCON  
  
[in guise of a hawk, aside]  
  
I shiver as she pets me, for I fear this lady will be the death of me. That  
  
this argent elf will do with we as she pleases, then do away with  
me setting me in stone, a tree, or a tomb of ice. (6)  
  
ARGENTE  
  
Since you are here, friends. You should be welcomed. While I called Argente  
  
the Elf after I wooed Alexander the Great teaching him the arts of  
war,  
  
under the guise of Sibille the Lake Fairy, will teach my new pet  
the use of a lure (7).  
  
FALCON  
  
[disguised as a hawk, aside]  
  
Nay, mermaid sprite, you are quite mistaken. I am no pet of yours.  
  
[Flies up and grabs the lure and flies off distant with it]  
  
For I shall take your kite and lure a new pray here to the Isle of  
Man.  
  
RHIANNON  
  
Looks like you lost another toy. Stay away from my lord husband.  
  
ARGENTE  
  
I have no desire for him. Look here, the hawk has tied the kite line round the mast head of a passing ship! By great-grandfather Neptune, that hawk is  
bringing in that ship like a salmon on a fishing line!  
  
FALCON  
  
[lands, transforms back into a human]  
  
I suggest you welcome your guests; it would be quite rude if you did  
not. Before you all speak the words "impossible" nothing is really real  
when the mind is put at it.  
  
So with equal parts fire, water, earth, and air I could make the fifth element so to transmute lead into gold or able one to live eternally.  
(8)  
  
MANAWYDDAN  
  
Who is you scion of dung?  
  
FALCON  
  
I am the child of Destiny.  
  
[bows kisses ARGENTE's hand]  
  
Simple Falcon as it is plain to see, I make fortune turn her  
wheel. Watch now, Manawyddan, here come the High King and his retinue  
fished by me out of the sea.  
  
RHAINNON  
  
[strikes him]  
  
Why bring these living souls here, they have no right. Only the  
dead can come here.  
  
ARGENTE  
  
You forget yourself, Rhainnon, this is my island all and my loch.  
I will see these living souls, for this impish boy amuses me.  
  
[Enter KING BRAN and retinue]  
  
Entreat me mischievous falcon, who are these faces I do not know  
yet. I suspect the worried man with the new beard growing in and the  
silver around his brow is the newly- made king. The one closely flowing  
him, sprightly like a wings insect must be his wife.  
  
FALCON  
  
Yea, the man is king. My disagree, please forgive. She is not his wife for  
  
her brother Alan is close behind keeping them apart like a mazdan  
wall. For that woman is a nun currently.  
  
AILILL  
  
You surprised us, druid, what are you doing here?  
  
KENT  
  
[aside]  
  
I suspect he has something to so with the capture of our ship.  
  
FALCON  
  
I did, Kent. For I know tyrant Matholwych has the spear of Longanis, and if  
  
Bran is to face him, he needs a weapon of divine temperament rather  
  
than an actor's painted cloak and a wooden sword. He needs a  
  
helmet, a shield, and a sword.  
  
RHAINNON  
  
Then you erred, fairy-lad, there are no weapons here - only the  
bliss that rivals the Elysian Fields.  
  
ARGENTE  
  
There is one weapon here.  
  
[aside to FALCON]  
  
What are you planning with that grin? I shall not hand over Tyr's blade to anyone! For watery tart lobbing scimitars at people is no way to  
run a government.  
  
FALCON  
  
[aside]  
  
Nay, nay, good lady fair. All I suggest is a loan; provided Bran  
passes your test. The sword shall be returned, you have my word.  
  
ARGENTE  
  
If you say, Falcon.  
  
[ to KING BRAN]  
  
Step forward king, no harm will come to thee. You stand on trial,  
put to the test.  
  
King BRAN  
  
Why was my ship un-truly plucked? To this land of shadow? Now I am  
told that I am tried? What for I have done wrong, though I can give an  
account of my sins for I am a man.  
  
ARGENTE  
  
Sins? Sins indeed.  
  
[waves her hand]  
  
See you living what can be yours.  
  
[aside to Falcon]  
  
As I cast this spell do something for me - set these two lovers  
together, for it will amuse me.  
  
FALCON  
  
Annon, Lady Argente  
  
[bows]  
  
Come Terdelshoye, the tree fairy, make you the lover of Alan and he of you  
  
so that king and dragonfly can wed.  
  
[enter SPIRITS to torment them]  
  
NISSYEN  
  
[tormented by spirit, PRIDE]  
  
By the gods I see the honors of an emperor, triumphant marches,  
statues all dedicated.  
  
AILILL  
  
[tormented by spirit, GLUTTONY]  
  
Mountains of pork, fresh venison, the finest ale...  
  
KENT  
  
[tormented by ENVY and HATRED]  
  
That druid and Albany's head on a platter served by Bran's sister,  
Branwen, in lack of dress.  
  
BRANWEN  
  
[tormented by SLOTH]  
  
The quiet countryside, the sound of the harp,  
  
sleeping in the noon day's sun.  
  
ALBANY  
  
[tormented by VANITY]  
  
My face in the glass as I was when I was young.  
  
DRAGONFLY  
  
[tormented by LUST]  
  
My nuptial bed tied to the four posts fast like to be drawn-and-quartered as kind Bran comes to me with a thorn branch in hand to teach me discipline  
he can.  
  
ALAN  
  
[entranced by TERDELSHOYE, the tree fairy or REGRET]  
  
A beautiful lady of supreme quality, for seeing her I lament  
asserts unto God and  
  
taking them. She loves me so and I her.  
  
King BRAN  
  
[tormented by SPIRITS]  
  
Arrogance, excess, jealousy, indolence, narcissism, covetousness, and pang  
  
of guilt plague us so. I must resist these eight mortal sins! (9)  
For Christ did when exhorted the same in the desert constantly without  
water, food, and drink for forty days.  
  
MANAWYDDAN  
  
On hearing of this Lord Christ, I am now Bran's brother this night.  
He will never lack for aid.  
  
ARGENTE  
  
Good, the first test is over.  
  
[She dismisses the SPIRITS, except for  
  
TERDELSHOYE in the arms of ALAN]  
  
King, you may have the sword when you give me a new name. For hence I can no longer be Sibelle, as the Macedonian before called me a name, nor  
I can be Argente.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
I do not understand, miss nymph, but I will give a name that suits this unlikely place. Viviane you will be called (10). "Viv" for the ocean and the water you dwell. "Iane" for Diana and the various flora and fauna on this island of dreams where the souls of heroes are sent to dwell (10).  
  
ARGENTE  
  
[NOW VIVIANE]  
  
Then as Vivianne, I hand you the sword of power  
  
[hands him a sword that gives off an unnatural hue]  
  
In due time it will be recollected, for if it is not returned to me any mortal wound you may receive you will suffer with unable to die or live.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Then, Viviane and Falcon, the sword will be returned. Why for you  
all stand there? Ireland waits ahead of us. We must see out the tyrant and free this land from war. Then in the lasting peace I make a new order. So that we do not forget this act of making a king less it is in the privy of men to do. We all shall gather in a hall and speak of glories and honors and doing good there-in. Above that hall I will construct a wooden fortress  
named after the pagan name I had, Camaalis.  
  
[takes DRAGONFLY's hand as they cheer]  
  
Then I shall have an heir, if thee will have me, Grail maiden. Dear  
sister of the saints, would you have me?  
  
VIVIANE  
  
[to FALCON]  
  
You have done well, Falcon. They speak of victory, castles, and  
kings. Teacher Falcon, I know strategy when I see it, so pray tell  
sorcerer, what ticks in your brain now?  
  
FALCON  
  
Nothing that concerns you, my Lady Viviane of the Lake, not just yet. For your godson Llwch Lleminawc, who the Welsh call Lawnslodt, has not been born yet. He will the son of Ban of Benwick, he will be the nephew of Ivoire and Bors of Gannes, grandson of Lancelo and an Éire princes of M`il and Mong`an's brood will be adopted by you. He and others will the Grail  
spirit away. (11)  
  
VIVIANE  
  
[to FALCON]  
  
Ho ho! You make me laugh so, please do return and amuse me some  
more.  
  
  
  
Extent  
  
Cliff notes  
  
One:  
  
Isle of Man, probable location of Avalon, the land of apples in  
the dreaming, the land of death, the last resting place of King Arthur.  
  
Two:  
  
RHIANNON, Celtic goddess of the Sea wife of Manawyddan. Origin for the  
  
name Nimue?  
  
Three:  
  
Manawyddan-ap-Lir, Celtic God of the Sea. Son of Lir or Lear.  
  
Four:  
  
Origin of why gentlemen walk on the outside of the street, so not to have  
the emptied toilet water land on them rather letting it land on the  
  
woman  
  
Five:  
  
Wolves and hawks mate for life, unlike the fish or mermaid - as does Manyddan prove, though that does bring up some problem with the Lady of the Lake = Merylin question, did they actually love each other, or where they using each other. I suspect that they were using each other to make destiny  
run its course.  
  
Six:  
  
Falcon, or Merylin, fears for his life for good reason for he knows that in one of these ways he is going to die. Even still, he is the gentleman  
towards his possible killer, the Lady of the Lake.  
  
Seven:  
  
Alexander the Great wooed Sibille, the Lady of the Lake or a lake fairy,  
giving her the name Argente the Elf, which is close to the name of a  
  
Celtic Goddess Aronrhod  
  
Eight:  
  
Fire, Water, Earth, and Air the four known elements of the universe and in equal portions of Lead, Mercury, Sulfur, and other materials one can make  
the philosopher's stone, a stone blessed with the properties to give  
  
one the ability to change lead into gold and live forever  
  
Nine:  
  
The deadly sins - Pride, Envy or Hatred, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Vanity, and  
Lust. The Eighth sin, Regret is not on the list, but should be  
  
Ten:  
  
Viviane, the Lady of the Lake and Mistress over Avalon, the last  
  
resting place of King Arthur and his heroic Knights whose castle in  
life was Camelot, which was built out of the ruins of Bran's fortress.  
  
Eleven:  
  
Reference to Lancelot du Lake, godson of the Lady of the Lake, one of the  
knights that find the Holy Grail, which was in possession of the Grail  
Kings 


	6. Caladvwlch, Sword of Welsh

Shield  
  
Act 1 Scene 6  
  
A field in Ireland  
  
BRANWEN  
  
Here at this set of tents in this sceptered isle of Badb and Morriagan (1), foul Matholwch seeks parley. Blessed are the peacemakers it is said.  
  
ALBANY  
  
Cheese makers? Something stinks here other than that, if you say one word here, incubus and I will strike you. Your sorceries interfere with the proper running of a state.  
  
BRANWEN  
  
Suffer not a witch to live.  
  
FALCON  
  
[aside]  
  
Yea I will not move unless the other power I sense is worth my interest. For this land is still full of snakes and me a good falcon should deal with them right out or let some squirrel come to sow woe (2).  
  
[Enter Matholwch, Eliawras, and retinue]  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
Why should I do this, lord with antlers in you hair? I have Longanis' might, do I not? For if anyone understands its secrets  
  
may rule the whole of the world.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
True my lord it has be written as such. From the liver of a fresh ewe I have seen that if your spear meets his sword, both of you will be stuck dead. You will be tossed to become Pluto's fool.  
  
[Aside]  
  
By a mirror, I say that this that if he fights. I will be stripped of limbs and slink bout stuck in the guise of what lay Cleopatra low. For the sight of me will cause a black blade to be drawn in a parley with a greater man and will be lain dead but not - mortally wounded - he promises to return at the crack of doom for one last fight (3). I will wind on 'til I am stuck dead, in self-love I do not want to be cursed so.  
  
ALBANY  
  
What another druid? Is he a friend of yours, falcon? You two planned this meet so that peace is wrought. I trust your kind not.  
  
FALCON  
  
I do not know this man, for Eliawras slithers only in Matholwch's ear. I make no distinction to serve Bran or not. I care not where the squirrel strips the wood and eat the corn of the all powerful world tree, under which mother Fortune sits. (2)  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
[seeing King Bran]  
  
Ho! Is that the king, I have a longer beard than he!  
  
MANAWYDDAN  
  
Hold your tongue or I will have it out through your stomach. For Jove, Odin, Dagda, and all above have set him to sit on the Liagh Fail.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Hold brother Manawyddan; better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his tempter than one who takes a city. We came to talk not to start a fight. Come friends let us sit and do such for the equable wooing of Venus albeit I have my own queen to love me and advise me.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
Woe to any country that is ruled by a child or a woman. (4)  
  
KENT  
  
Say that again and I will make a haggis out of you.  
  
FALCON  
  
[amused]  
  
Hag's dish? Out of the innards of sheep, suet, and meats boiled and brewed, very delicious indeed for "the ladies from hell."  
  
[To King Bran]  
  
Show the sword and speak the words.  
  
ALBANY  
  
[starts to draw his sword]  
  
You are not to interfere!  
  
BRANWEN  
  
Peace, Albany. Take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life. Peace Kent. Peace, brother Manawyddan. Hold your anger not for that is what Christ taught.  
  
QUEEN DRAGONFLY  
  
Dearest husband, lord. My advice you seek, show them the sword and say the words that changeling taught you to speak. For peace with a man despised is better than the enemies that we do not know there of.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Behold! Behold, Matholwch, this sword.  
  
[He draws his sword; it gives off an unnatural hue]  
  
Look onto it well Eiru, Badnbha, Fodla. (5) Behold the sword of power begotten of all words, all gods, made when man was young when field and flower were one with man and man with them. Made when the rainbow had more than seven colors.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
I quake in fear of it - for I am almost blinded by the shine of this lighting made steel.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Hold fast, lord, forget you Longinis in your hand?  
  
[Pauses to think]  
  
My lord, yield to it.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
What? Why should I?  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Play along petty tyrant for you are under my sway.  
  
AILILL  
  
[aside to Nissyen]  
  
I do not like this situation. Eliawras the Druid is no fool. He is a blight of venom and vigor.  
  
  
  
NISSYEN  
  
[aside]  
  
You would know, blue-painted Pict. If only I were chose king instead of he, yet I must be content as caswallawn of the Privy Purse. From my place there, I put Gwawl Llwyd into debt. To pay his due, Pryderi took away his wife.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
If I yield to the sword of power, what will be mine?  
  
BRANWEN  
  
Four and twenty white horses, quick of speed and a gold plate as big as your head...  
  
QUEEN DRAGONFLY  
  
Two ermine cloaks and a chalice of gold, silver, emerald, and jade...  
  
KENT  
  
[aside]  
  
These women give away too much, if we are not careful they might give away the whole of the kingdom.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
Is this an insult? Do you want to war with my bleeding spear? That is not enough for me.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
So then, Matholwch... The land of Eire from here to there and the hand of Branwen, my sister, for by blood and steel peace is best maintained. For I will not raise my hand against by brother-in-law and Justice will strike me dead and anyone who would kill their own family with some horrible curse. May this be so to anyone who breaks this bond forged here...  
  
Extent  
  
One:  
  
Badb and Morrigan, Irish Goddesses  
  
Two:  
  
Reference to the World Tree where in its branches sits a hawk, falcon, or eagle that is at war with the wyrm, snake, or serpent at its roots. The squirrel runs messages between the enemies and brings about the end of the world.  
  
Three:  
  
Snake references  
  
Four:  
  
Child or Woman. He is saying that because Bran does not have a beard is not a man, but a child. He is also insulting that it seems that Queen Dragonfly advises him.  
  
Five:  
  
Eiru, Badnbha, and Fodla principal Irish Goddesses of Sovereignty 


	7. Calibern, Sword of Power

ACT 2  
  
Act 2  
  
Scene 1  
  
Egypt, the pyramids, between the Sphinx's paws  
  
WITCH1  
  
[Washing clothing, trying to get blood out of some clothes] (1)  
  
Wash, spin, wash. The blood comes off little by little. Back from  
the  
  
little bear is the great bear, Kustenhin and Ivoirie, Kynnovor, Tudwal, Urbrien, Turmwr Morvawr Gwrvawr, Conan Meriadoc, Eudaf Octavious,  
Karadoc,  
  
and Bran. (2)  
  
[to Falcon]  
  
Sit here boy in these monuments, mysterious.  
  
FALCON  
  
[bows]  
  
Yes, mother, for man justly fears you and you tremble before these sets of worked stones set in the deserts of Egypt that confound every philosopher  
  
from beginning to end their meaning. (3)  
  
[to Witch2]  
  
None, what may you in the pot? A haggis?  
  
WITCH2  
  
[muttering]  
  
Eigyr; Amlawdd Wledig and his Gwen, spawned of Cunedda's Cotandini  
and  
  
Gwawl, daughter of hen Coel of Colchester. (4)  
  
[notices him]  
  
No I do not. It is a soup. Salmon fed all its life on acorns, beer drilled out of a mountain, immortal apples of gold, feathers from the phoenix ready  
  
to burst and be reborn, apples form Eden's tree of knowledge,  
Pandora's  
  
hair, dragon's pearls, drops of our blood, super strings,  
philosopher's  
  
stone, and other knowledgeable things.  
  
FALCON  
  
Sounds a delightful stew, Nona. (5)  
  
[sticks his hand into the pot]  
  
Mind if I take a taste?  
  
WITCH2  
  
No.  
  
[taps his hand with a spoon]  
  
Suck your thumb if you like boy (5) , for backwards from Amalawdd  
is  
  
Kynwal; Ffrwdr and Lambor of Logres, who is of Alan and  
Terdelshoye's  
  
seed; Turmur Morvawr; Conan Meriadok, Evdaf, Karadok, and Brane.  
(4)  
  
WITCH 3  
  
My poor boy.  
  
[hugs him]  
  
Sucking your thumb. Come lay here on my breast thinking of mysterious things that will be, what was, may be soon to come, or of this  
great lion's quierry. (6)  
  
FALCON  
  
Yea, mother, I will.  
  
[aside]  
  
Though I rather lay my head on that lake fairy's breast and crack open some  
  
shellfish. Yet look, at this Nile ford, one of my mothers do wash  
so  
  
clothes drenched in blood, I fear whose they may be.  
  
WITCH1  
  
[washing]  
  
Of this beast, Sphinx, did ask the answer is albeit Tacticus preceeded Paternus and paternus proceeded Aeternus who proceeded Cunedda that a man as a babe crawling in the mornin' of life has four legs to use -  
the arms  
  
and knees. (4, 6)  
  
WITCH2  
  
[fixing her stew]  
  
After which man uses to legs to walk in the mid- part of its life so that  
  
one can trace Lambor of Logres back though Manael, Carcelos  
Castellors,  
  
Jaoshua, Brickus Mazadan, and finally to Alan. (4,6)  
  
WITCH3  
  
Brickus's bother can pawn Evgen Efrag, Lailiez Bliocadran of York, Addanz  
  
Gales li Cause and his Philosophine, Gahmuret Pellinore, and the  
one to  
  
achieve the Grail in hertho the in the evening of life a man might  
use  
  
a cane to walk giving the appearance of walking on three legs. (6,  
7)  
  
FALCON  
  
A decade or three with you mothers, lying on your breasts. Peace  
maintained, the High King's days are set like eternal spring.  
  
WITCH 3  
  
Though my son, Bran is to die soon, his life-line quickly  
snipped off like me with thread and sheers.  
  
[Falcon jumps up]  
  
WITCH 2  
  
What is the matter with you, boy? I have just finished the stew?  
Would you not want something to eat?  
  
FALCON  
  
Please excuse me, mothers I must go and make sure my word to  
Viviene is kept, for the sword should be returned and be taken up by a  
greater man.  
  
[Exit Falcon]  
  
WITCH 1  
  
What an honorable child we have sisters, considering his  
various natures.  
  
WITCH 2  
  
If you say so, sister.  
  
WITCH 3  
  
True, history will not be kind with him; he will be much  
construed as much as a sailfish or a part of a machine that can fly  
that carries death from the sky like a hurricane. (8)  
  
Extent  
  
One:  
  
Reference to the washer in the ford, the Banshee who is seems to wash  
  
the clothes of the dead, slain in battle.  
  
Two:  
  
Possible linage of King Arthur, son of Uthur, son of Kustenhin and Ivoirie;  
Kustenhin is the son of Kynnovor, son of Tudwal, son of Urbrien,  
  
son of Turmwr Morvawr Gwrvawr, son of Conan Meriadoc, son of Eudaf  
  
Octavious, son of Karadoc, and son of King Bran.  
  
Three:  
  
monuments, the pyramids  
  
Four:  
  
More possible linage of King Arthur  
  
Five:  
  
Cauldron of Knowledge where a hero sticks his thumb in tastes it and  
  
sucks on the thumb to gain the knowledge of all things.  
  
Six:  
  
Lion, Sphinx and her riddle, "I walk in the morning with four legs, I walk  
in the afternoon on two, I walk in the evening on three. What am I?"  
A Greek Hero answered, "Man."  
  
Seven:  
  
Linage of Percival  
  
Eight:  
  
" True, history will not be kind with him, etc."  
  
Historians and scholars of the Classics have hard time placing Merylin or  
Falcon, who seems to quote from everything from the Movie "Excalibur," Shakespeare, to Monty Python. He is usually seen as a survivor of the lost Continent of Atlantis, a druid, a Changeling, child of a demon or a dragon,  
a bastard, a druid, a wizard, teacher, and maker of kings.  
  
Merlin is also the name of a type of Sailfish and the engine of several types of early World War Two Bombers of the RAF, which were escorted by the  
Hurricane Fighters.  
  
There is a legend in Cornwall that the Ghost of Merylin was seen (like that of Arthur at Dover during WWII) the wizard was seen raising a terrible storm that destroyed the Spanish Armada, a failed invasion of England in AD 1688. So in some historical irony, a Merlin was again "protecting" England  
under the guise of the RAF. 


	8. Cauldron of Knowledge

Scene 2 Castle Camaalis  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
For less than a score I see more and more of those crucified man talismans encroach on us stealing national essence. For Branwen's Christian tongue in my lord Matholwch's ear pandering for their son Gern. Dragonfly buzzing in the Bran's ears, we lose what make us distinct. We lose our moral standing, do you not agree, Lord Albany? If everyone is brother and sister, then is  
  
it not incest to have children or do they condone that we should  
commit  
  
such a sin? Tell me Kent.  
  
ALBANY  
  
I do not know thee, old man.  
  
KENT  
  
Why speak to me druid? Though I once succored for Branwen's  
  
nice leg and hated Bran, who called this Camaalis Castle after  
himself.  
  
Under his rule my lands have prospered, everybody is happy with  
their  
  
share. Even if he be Christian, he is a fair and just man.  
  
MANYDDAN  
  
Speak one more word and I will charge you with treason.  
  
[Enter Caradoc and Pryderi]  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
[to Nissyen]  
  
What you look at clipper of the coinage debasing their value by slicing the  
metal off their edges?  
  
NISSYEN  
  
How did you know this, for I am watching my scapegoat Pryderi, hated like the plague of brown rats and pigs carrying away home, transfixing dogs into stone, and stealing grain stored... Justly so, since the Welshman did trick Gwawl out of a wife ... Still, the lord of the Fort of Glass teaches that  
Christian-born prince the art of the fight.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
[watching Caradoc and Pryderi fencing with wooden swords]  
  
Well played, my prince.  
  
[to Nissyen]  
  
What do you love? What do you hate? Tell me, Lord of Euroswyod. Given that title due to you being Bran's mother's brother, you are not all you seem -  
you seek a balm called a crown and I speak not of the coins you debase.  
  
NISSYEN  
  
Keep your necromancy away from me! I want nothing to do with you.  
  
PRYDERI  
  
[fencing with Caradoc]  
  
Good, my prince, very good. Strike at me, hard! Use your mind and  
  
body! Make every blow count - for it could be your last.  
  
ELIAWRES  
  
[to Nissyen]  
  
You lie too well, Minister Nissyen. Your only love now is that by your acts  
the treasury's stories of the metals of the sun and moon are getting  
lighter by mixing baser stuff there in. However, I should war you  
Castwallen, when Prince Caradoc there becomes king, everything will be  
put into proper account.  
  
CARADOC  
  
[fencing]  
  
Yes, I will. I want my father to be proud of me. I also want what the lords want. The lords want me to learn war. My father dreams of days of making  
swords into plowshares countering them. I am set apart as a prince.  
  
NISSYEN  
  
[to Nissyen]  
  
Is that a threat rider of deer?  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
No truths. Pure truths. If Caradoc becomes king, Christianity will flourish and the treasury's books will be balanced. However, if Prince Caradoc dies, the throne is up for grabs. Matholwch will be murdered by his wife and his son. Prince Gern will proceed here to take it. This must be so for as long  
as the geese fly.  
  
NISSYEN  
  
[to Nissyen]  
  
What do you want me to do about it?  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Nothing. I do not interfere. What ever you think is best, is best.  
  
NISSYEN  
  
Do not back out on me with this what do you want me to do?  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
[to Nissyen}  
  
Obey me in this; raise an army to fight Gern. Face him soon, immediately so  
that the land can again pagan be.  
  
[enter Falcon, invisible]  
  
With sword, stone, cup, spear, and crown on a proper person.  
  
PRYDERI  
  
[fencing]  
  
You cannot serve to masters. You must learn this if you are to be  
  
king.  
  
CARADOC  
  
[fencing]  
  
When I am king? I am told this from sun up to sunset. For it is like the pox set on my great-grandfather. Bladdud who out hunting approached a crone  
rejected her, she revealed herself as Pwyll, King of the Dreaming. Pwyll spoke, "Thus you a leaper, be." When you are king," sickens me like the pox, it maddens me so did the state Bladdud, father of King Lear, was  
in.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
That from the top of the city of Bath, Bladdud attempted to fly to  
Leicester, where his son dwelled and fell to his right death.  
  
FALCON  
  
[thunder, becomes visible]  
  
Silence, fetted viper!  
  
[surprised, Pryderi knocks Caradoc to the floor]  
  
Spin your webs else where; be the squirrel on some other tree.  
  
[Exit Eliawras in fear]  
  
TENGAU  
  
[rushes to Caradoc's side]  
  
Are you hurt? My prince! Struck viper- ly? Did he harm thee? If  
Pryderi did, hence I will never forgive him  
  
CARADOC  
  
It is nothing, Tengau, nothing at all.  
  
PRYDERI  
  
[to Caradoc]  
  
Never take your eyes off the enemies once, for when you do - they  
shall chop you up for stew. Even for a woman you love.  
  
[Enter King Bran]  
  
CARADOC  
  
What? Umm. I do not know what you are talking about.  
  
[To Falcon]  
  
Who are thou changeling to order Eliawras around?  
  
FALCON  
  
Stately, Falcon I be nothing more or less than that, I am the maker of kings. Take pride in that sacred position, for not long you will  
be king. Remember that, Prince Caradoc and future Princess Tengau.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Falcon, speak now to my son? What are you doing here? Why have you  
never listened to my summons for counsel? Where have you been? I sent  
seven riders out to find you, none ever returned.  
  
FALCON  
  
Of course they will not return, to know the future is to know that there is  
death in this world. I have walked since the beginning of Time, dear  
High King. Hecate, mother of witches, is my friend and the Fates are my mothers. Sometimes, I give crowns and glories and life. Sometimes, I take  
them away. It is mine to know which and when, for I serve no king -  
not even you.  
  
CARADOC  
  
Say that again changeling and I will have you impaled - have you looked  
up to, on a stake.  
  
TENGAU  
  
Ya, what he said. Where ever my Caradoc goes I shall follow. For I am  
his shadow, though he never sees me - I love him so more than I do  
the king  
  
FALCON  
  
[amused]  
  
With a wooden sword and a bride wearing blue, as if a nun, so it is true the apple does not fall far from the tree. That is why I am here, to say  
this and more.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Speak. Strike not, son. Strike not the blot in another's eye  
until you remove the one in you own. Be free of undue emotions - anger, lust, hatred, and impiety if you are to succeed me. The peace of this realm I leave in the hands of the brave lords like thee, to be my archangels and angels. But woe on thee who thinks they shall send my son against me. Do not interfere with my rule, or I shall toss you out exiled from this realm  
as Lucifer and the unfaithful was. Now speak weaver of men, tell me  
what does the stars has in store for us.  
  
FALCON  
  
Inquire of the stars one might get false results - for the horoscopes can be very wrong, for if one knows the future one also must know of their own death. I can tell you this, High King, your brave son will avenge you. And  
his love will bear many children. And very brave descendants.  
  
CARDOC  
  
Me? Avenge my father? Name the traitor now!  
  
FALCON  
  
I cannot and will not say for that will ruin what Fortune wants. I  
can inform a strange occurrence in Eire, where the tyrant not a ship  
lets leave on pain of death.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
What of that emerald land? I fear something may have happened to my sister  
and her son, Gern. Tell me, Lord Falcon.  
  
FALCON  
  
Just Falcon, not a lord. I refuse to take any titles for it affronts my own  
fortune to die at the hands of the woman I love. Woe unto that land Matholwch has found a new wife, a paragon of beauty, once love of the Hound  
of Culann. Branwen, poor once princess, is mewed in a tower with no visitors save me. And in the guise of a cuckoo I provide her with food and drink, Matholwch seeks her to starve to death. Then faster than Hermes, I  
winged here to tell that she suffers so.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
What are all you standing there? Call my councils. Call my lords! With  
the lords I will shortly speak  
  
[exit all except King Bran, Caradoc, and Falcon]  
  
What must I do now, Falcon? She is my dear sister, the last of Lear's blood. I could not justly rob her of a husband for her son will come  
one day with Devine justice and a knife to slaughter me. Then my son, will avenge me, and be cursed as well. My oath to Heaven stands that if I  
break my word my bones will be the foundation of the bloodiest tower  
in London-town. (1)  
  
CARADOC  
  
Still, still my father. Still, still my king. The tyrant has  
broken his vow. So why seek his council now?  
  
FALCON  
  
My council, Prince is the truth, like it or not. I only tell the truth all the time unlike many men whose truths wax and wane, for that is a curse on me I set for myself. Branwen's fate is set. She will escape her cage and up to the ramparts run chased by her own son and be toss'd there  
on and die in the fall. So in any case, decide or not she will die.  
Good day.  
  
[Bows, exit Falcon]  
  
CARADOC  
  
Father, heard you this? This demon cur does not speak the truth. My aunt is not dead is she? He lies and spreads poison like that of Eliawras, rider of  
deer.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Peace my son. My lords wait for me. I have decided to leave you  
here to rule while I go to Ireland and meet with Matholwch - he will not refuse me. We can talk this out, peace is still an option is it not?  
  
EXTENT  
  
One:  
  
Bloodiest tower - Tower of London, once tomb of King Bran. 


	9. Crock of Life and Death

Scene 3  
  
Act 2 Scene 3 through Act 3 is missing, destroyed by the Black Plague.  
  
Assume to be a series of flashbacks of relationships:  
  
One -  
  
Manawyddan cheating on his wife Rhiannon  
  
Two -  
  
Matholwch despicable treatment of Branwen  
  
Three -  
  
King Bran and Queen Dragonfly's loving married life  
  
Four -  
  
Gwall + Cigfa + Pryderi love triangle, with Cigfa being the lady in between  
  
Five -  
  
Fand + A lord identified as "the Hound of Cunhail", her hatefully sending him out on fool's errands eventually resulting in his death and her meeting  
with Matholwch  
  
Six -  
  
Tengau + Prince Caradoc, her lovingly sending him out on quests  
  
Seven -  
  
Falcon wisely advising King Bran 


	10. Cup of Blood

Act 4  
  
Scene 1  
  
D`al nAraidi, Ireland  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
Dearest, most beautiful Fand, lady of Ulster and lady over D`al nAraidi, give me your love. Let me know what this thing that makes fool of man and  
  
king. Let me know your soft breast and firm leg.  
  
FAND  
  
Call'd a bright pearl I was by the Hound of Cumhail (1), whom was killed.  
  
If you seek love do not find it in me, find it in your wife. See her working in the scullery and midden's trash heap. Find love there, knee-  
deep  
  
in shit.  
  
  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
[to Eliawras]  
  
Druid, to have one night with her I would do anything. Use the arts, us the  
  
magic so that I may lay on like a jack and apes with such a sweet  
pearl  
  
wretch'd from Poseidon's brow.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
I can and will. I must delay that spell. Lord, must brave, delay your  
inquiry for with Badb's anger comes here Bran the King pledging to  
strip the land of every stone and flower if his wife is harmed.  
  
FAND  
  
Hopefully so, I love none here. I love neither you; nor your son Gern for he sought me as well to the death of the Hound of Cumhail, who was like an Ajax to the Irish. That lord Cuchulainn spurned my hand for someone else  
so I endeavored to kill him. Gern seeking my love you desire succored foul relationships and briberies to bring the lord to fight. Struck with a poisoned spear, the lord tied himself to a stone and continued to fight. Then he stopped, none approached him. It was not until a crow landed on him  
  
that one knew Cuchulainn was dead.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
Then counsel I inquire, we could prepare contrived this land to war. Away  
  
Fand, leave us for now and later come to my chambers this night.  
  
FAND  
  
Away I will go, but I shall not enter your chambers, even if you were the  
  
last man on this earth. I rather sleep with dogs or be buried alive  
and  
  
bring down the house on us (2).  
  
[Exit Fand]  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Do so for it is most just. In my mind I still some to a mind a much plan  
  
that will rob them of a Christened king. So much so that Bran will  
join his father. and grandfather.his grandfather, poxed by the lord of death, made insane thought he could fly from Bath, his home, on wax wings to Leicester, Lear's home... Madness runs in the family, Christianity is  
only another type of madness.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
Tell me, wise man. How do we rid us of this foul madman on the  
throne.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Invited him into a great hall which I will build in less than a day, hang on the pillars great sacks where-in I shall store one of your men-at-arms. The soldiers disguised as wine casks at a signal will jump out and put them  
  
to work.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
Yes, make it so. And to distract them, and win sweet Fand's pure affection, a play shall be put on to welcome the feasting king. Summon the actors most  
  
true (3).  
  
[enter actors - Bulle the Butcher, Horse the Tanner, Hounde the  
Mercer,  
  
Boare the Limner, Ravene the Habidasher, Swane the Cordwainer, Rate  
the  
  
Chandler, Deere the Fuller, and Faune the Vitner (3, 4)]  
  
[ to actors]  
  
Use your talents most gross lords, for you are to play for a king. Make you  
  
a good play, not too long, not too short, not too exciting, and not too boring that will win me the fondness of a lady I hunt for and amuse a king and his retinue. Do so for me, actors. Bring the muses to your aid; I shall give you a pound of silver for each day in one month, coming to the  
number  
  
of thirty (5).  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
If the play is not good, too long, too short, too exiting, and too boring, I shall make trenchers and dishes out of your bones after you are hanged  
  
(5).  
  
[exit Matholwch and Eliawras]  
  
BULLE  
  
I quake in fear for this honored man is what caused trouble for our Hector,  
  
Cuchulainn, in the famous feud between Ulster and Connacht over  
cattle rights. I fear that it was his poison that brought the Hound of  
Cumhail to  
  
death.  
  
HORSE  
  
Keep your ells to yourself, slaughter-house manager. I make your hide into  
  
leather at too much a cost. I think you put your thumb on the  
scales.  
  
HOUNDE  
  
Is all our company here, for the lord demands a play in his wisdom?  
And  
  
threatens our lives?  
  
BOARE  
  
You were best to call them generally, man-by-man, according to the script.  
  
RAVENE  
  
What script? We have none.  
  
SWANE  
  
We will invent one; it is not hard to do. Here is paper with our names and  
  
more to draw the parts.  
  
RATE  
  
Then proceed, I am not much a writer forced to scrawl something haphazard  
  
like this. I need time to study and think inspiration for the plot.  
  
DEERE  
  
Fear not, Rate the Chandler, and make your candles so well. Why not the  
  
story of Lludd and Llefelys? Merry our play would be then, the most lamentable comedy and most cruel death and tragedy of Lludd and Llefelys.  
  
FAUNE  
  
What is this Ludd and Lefelys, cousin? I have never heard of it.  
  
BULLE  
  
Just play along, vintner dear... I do not know what your cousin  
speaks  
  
about either. Masters spread you apart and let us hear Deere speak.  
  
SWANE  
  
Answer as I call you. Horse the Tanner  
  
HORSE  
  
Here and ready to deliver the most elegant steeds from Moses to Solomon.  
  
Name what part, I am for and proceed on.  
  
DEERE  
  
You are set down for LLefelys  
  
HORSE  
  
What is this Lleflys, fuller? A lover, or saint, or tyrant?  
  
DEERE  
  
A lover most virtuous; a man most wise.  
  
HORSE  
  
That will ask some tears in the true performing of it. If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes. For I will move storms, I will condole some  
  
measure.  
  
DEERE  
  
[clears his voice]  
  
Yes, yes. Bulle the Butcher, you be Llud.  
  
BULLE  
  
What? The lead? Or is it part of the title?  
  
[aside]  
  
I fear Horse might kill  
  
me if it is the lead.  
  
DEERE  
  
No, just a prince most plagued.  
  
HORSE  
  
I could play that to the rest. My chief humor is for a prince and tyrant.  
  
'twas that I play'd Aeneas tale to Dido as in Hamlet, "The rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyracanian beast, it is not so, it begins with Pyrrhus.  
The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, black as his purpose, did the  
night resemble when he lady couched in the ominous horse, has now this  
dread and black complexion smear'd with heraldry more dismal..."  
  
DEERE  
  
No, no, no. Horse, you are best Lleflys for you played will a big part equal in size to that of Llud and you will get an extra part of the  
gross.  
  
Faune, your part is next. You must take Anu.  
  
FAUNE  
  
What is Anu? A warrior wandering to-and-fro like Odysseus, for it is close  
  
to the name of a goddess. (6)  
  
DEERE  
  
It is the lady that Lleflys must love.  
  
[Laughter]  
  
FAUNE  
  
Nay, faith cousin, let me not play a woman so. I have a beard coming in.  
  
DEERE  
  
That is all one, Faune, you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as  
  
small as you will.  
  
HORSE  
  
Let me play Anu! And I may hide my face let me play Anu too. I will speak in a monstrous little voice, "Annu, Anu" "Ah, Lleflys, my lover dear! Thy  
  
Anu dear and lady dear!"  
  
DEERE  
  
No, no, no. You Must play Lleflys. And cousin, you Anu. Now we must proceed, time is quite against us. You, Boare the Limner, the part shall be  
  
Taranis.  
  
BOARE  
  
Then, Taranis I will be.  
  
HOUNDE  
  
What of me?  
  
DEERE  
  
Hounde the Mercer. You play BeliMawr's dog, Don.  
  
HOUNDE  
  
Is that an insult! Is it!  
  
HORSE  
  
Quit your barkin', there are other parts to be given.  
  
DEERE  
  
You, Rate the Chandler, the Corneid; Swane the Cordwinder, the  
White  
  
Dragon; Ravene the Haberdasher, the Red Dragon; and I, BeliMawr.  
  
RAVENE  
  
Have you the dragon's part written yet? Pay you do, if it be, give it to me  
  
soon, for I am slow of study.  
  
DEERE  
  
Not just yet, Haberdasher. You may do it extempore, for both dragons' parts  
  
is nothing but roaring.  
  
HORSE  
  
Let me play the dragons too. I will roar; that I will do any man's heart good to hear me. I will roar; that I will make the king say, "Let him roar  
  
again."  
  
BULLE  
  
An you should do it too terribly, you would fight the ladies that  
they  
  
would shriek.  
  
HOUNDE  
  
Then they will hang us all.  
  
  
FAUNE  
  
True, I grant you, friends. If that you should fright the ladies out of their wits. they would have no discretion to hang us or worse, give  
us to the druids to do as he pleases including roasting us alive in a  
wicker man, wrapping us in wet leather and let it dry until our bones  
break, stuff us  
  
into pies... (7)  
  
HORSE  
  
But I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as  
any  
  
sucking dove. I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale.  
  
DEERE  
  
You can play no part but Lleflys. For he is a sweet-faced man, as you are. A proper man as sone shall see in a summer's day. A most lovely gentlemen;  
  
therefore, you must needs play Lleflys.  
  
HORSE  
  
I shall.  
  
Extent.  
  
One:  
  
Hound of Cumhail, Cuchulainn, the Irish Hector; a tragic hero  
  
Two:  
  
Buried alive and house brought down on us, Edgar Allen Poe, "The Fall  
  
of The House of Ulster"  
  
Three:  
  
Bulle the Butcher, Horse the Tanner, Hounde the Mercer, Boare the  
  
Limner, Ravene the Habidasher, Swane the Cordwainer, Rate the Chandler, Deere the Fuller, and Faune the Vitner. Play on the "actors" in  
Midsummer's  
  
Night Dream and Hamlet.  
  
Four:  
  
Bull, Horse, Hound, Boar, Raven, Swan, Rat, Deer, and Faun are some of the  
  
principal animals with mysterious properties in Irish Myth  
  
Five:  
  
Thirty Pounds of silver - 30 days in an average month, or could be related  
to the 30 pieces of silver for the ransom of Christ which caused  
  
the betrayer to hang himself  
  
Six:  
  
Anu or Annu (Danu), Goddess, founder of the Dannan line, mother of all the  
Celtic gods.  
  
Seven:  
  
Some of the crimes Julius Caesar and the Romans ascribed to the  
  
Druids 


	11. Spear of Destiny

Act 4  
  
Scene 2 :  
  
Matholwch's Castle  
  
FALCON  
  
"A play; a play... Ha! All to catch the conscience of a king," said Hamlet the Dane... So much the better to teach a lesson, I can . Yet soft, here is  
Ulster's lovely pearl  
  
and the arrogant prince welcoming a king.  
  
[enter Fand and Matholwch.]  
  
This should be quite amusing.  
  
[Enter King Bran and retinue]  
  
MANAWYDDAN  
  
I do not like this brother, that you can accommodate this man in  
foul  
  
inobservance of your laws.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Peace, lir-ed sear lord, sit next to Fand. Lors sit here and here. Peace is  
  
far better than a pile of corpses.  
  
FALCON  
  
Then what are these hanging to the columns?  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Nothing more than wine, lord Falcon.  
  
FALCON  
  
Me a lord? Hardly. I think I will have a taste.  
  
[draws his sword stabs one of the bags, drinks the blood]  
  
Mmm. Nice taste. I serve no king, but I can say this, your wine has  
gone  
  
bad.  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
[aside to Eliawras]  
  
We have been found out. If Falcon tells the king, we are done.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
Peace, I acquiesce, lord fate.  
  
[He mounts the stage]  
  
To the beautiful voice of articulacy, epic and heroic verse; historic and heroic poems according to the parchment; lyric rhyme, particularly love and erotic doggerel, mimicry all set to the lyre... or the delightful rejoicing well of music and lyrics to the double flute. With knife and club in one hand one can wear the tragic mask and the corthurnus boot. Or sit pensively  
  
mediating like a woman in a long cloak to rest our elbow on the  
pillar before breaking into sacred hymn, eloquence, and dance. In this dance to the lulling flute and lyre one can break into the chorus and lyric  
canto.  
  
Should you rather for the rural pursuits, the shepherd's crook, one  
can  
  
think of comedy and pastoral prose. This all set under the cloak embroidered with the stars called the sky. We must peg them with the right  
  
and set the globe in our left for the astrology is set. (1) In  
these  
  
ancient days of blessed Prydiedn, when London was only a clutch of  
huts  
  
along the Thames where enfolds the tale -  
  
"The Most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Llud and  
Llefleys."  
  
MATHOLWCH  
  
[aside]  
  
Thank gods that your prologue was very long, my soldiers in the wine bags  
  
have been forgotten.  
  
[Exit Eliawras; Enter Deere as BeliMawr]  
  
DEERE  
  
{AS BeliMawr}  
  
Rex of Trifalgar square and Hyde Park, I play sanely a king called  
  
BeliMawr, a just and honest monarch whose loyalty to his brother  
  
Cunobelinus of Catuvellani and Porrax is of no question. (2) Though  
in abject reality, I am only Deere, a simple fuller. Here is my crown mural, rod, robe of crow-feathers plucked from the white stone tomb for if  
they  
  
leave the tower will fall into the sea and be an end to monarchy.  
(3)  
  
QUEEN DRAGONFLY  
  
What is the matter, the prologue is not that bad and this man may not be a  
  
king, yet we can imagine one.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
That stone he speaks of is my tomb. And also I do not need to. For Beli of London fathered my mother Penardun by Don. He looks nothing like my revered  
  
grandfather, who died watching Pernardun demand Lear to marry him or be fixed like seeing a gorgon. For she came in the shape of an old woman  
and  
  
only with a kiss would she take on her true beauty.  
  
DEERE  
  
{AS BeliMawr}  
  
A beast, a beast befouls me with every sport I pursue endlessly as does the sun chase the moon and the moon chase the sun. Only at the twilight times  
  
of dawn and dusk do I rust in the arms of a lady most wise in the  
bosom of Gaust Forest.  
  
[Enter Hounde as Don]  
  
Quietly, here comes the beast I seek.  
  
HOUNDE  
  
{AS Don}  
  
Howl? Horeau? Bark? I bay in and out the day. Born of the Tuantha De Dannan  
  
I dealt with powers infernal, and by Wormwood, the Star of Death, was set in the shape of a beast to make the Formorri lord of Gaust Forest give quick chase? Howl? Horeau? Woof? Do not mistake this canine costume of  
Don, I am really the  
  
man call'd Hounde the Mercer.  
  
AILILL  
  
If he did not say he was a man, I suspect they might be rude enough to put  
  
a woman on the stage in the costume of a questing dog.  
  
DEERE  
  
{AS BeliMawr}  
  
Sons! Daughter Penardun! Where are you?  
  
[enter Bulle and Horse]  
  
Help me cat this gaily beast.  
  
BULLE  
  
{AS Llud}  
  
A quick prince Llud, I, Bulle the Butcher play aiding my father in  
his hunt of the glatisant dog that in some light takes the shape of a serpent with the body of a leopard with coven hooves letting from her belly  
the deafening noise likened that of thirty hounds barking.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Tally ho! The game is afoot Nemedian Beli, I would follow but my heart pains me for the lack of being loved. I, though the brave Horse, am  
Lleflys the gay and bounteous lad seek nubile youth though in realty my marked name is well-known, very famous, handsome, ardite, and honest Horse  
the Tanner.  
  
DEERE  
  
{AS BeliMawr}  
  
[aside]  
  
She spoke out of tern, damn that cheating leather-worker, and now he ads  
  
more words than what I wrote.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Good bye father and brother Lludd, I go to Normandy and seek fair Anu, its  
  
Queen.  
  
[Exit Horse]  
  
DEERE  
  
{AS BeliMawr}  
  
Then go. I go set chase to Don. Off I go endlessly chasing until my  
death, then Pelinore shall take up the chase.  
  
[He crowns Bulle with the mural crown]  
  
You be king here while I give to my hunt to the questing monster.  
  
HOUNDE  
  
{AS Don}  
  
Yowl? Horeau? Bark? And I run by-and-by.  
  
[Exit Deere and Hounde arm-in-arm; enter Fawne]  
  
FAUNE  
  
{AS Anu}  
  
Face tinted blue in Normandy I sit wearing the moon as a crown, I, Faune  
  
the Vitner, in a red dress with my thigh's hose girded with green snake garters. The gorget around my net is set yet I wish that the Morning Star, Venus, would give with succor'd elf-shot give my heart light. Yet Anu of Normans I must not love for if I marry foreign, which is my right to do, slave I become to my husband's land. If I marry among my noble clans, their family is raised up to take rights that do not belong to them. So, rightly,  
  
virgin I stay. (4)  
  
ALBANY  
  
They were in London, now the scene changes to Normandy without transition.  
  
BOARE  
  
{AS Taranis}  
  
For Oberon and Puck have seen this giant, myself Boare the Limner  
as Taranis of Thunder, near her cloaked in rumbling, so that each time Cupid brings the arrow taught, lets the shot fly, it lands into a cup of  
flowers  
  
without any love except to cause mischief. (4)  
  
KENT  
  
If this Boare is a titian, then I am an emperor. He is even shorter than  
  
the one playing Queen Anu.  
  
BOARE  
  
{AS Taranis}  
  
If only I thunder-clad Taranis, wish that I could fin the milk white tinted in purple's love-wound. My speckled mantle shirt with red and golden bows like the aegis of the brutish colossus and hard-working Cyclops shrieks for  
  
thee, dear Queen Anu.  
  
FAUNE  
  
{AS Anu}  
  
Giant Taranus, your shape your clouds with lighting boarders block out the golden-haired, amber eyed, wheel shield protected Beli-sun. I do not like  
  
tee for that purpose setting star-crowned Mawr from this land (5).  
  
[slaps him twice]  
  
Be gone, Taranis, I will not find love in thee.  
  
BOARE  
  
{AS Taranis}  
  
I shall leave you yet by every art none shall ever have Queen Anu.  
  
[exit Boare, enter Horse]  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
O firm-looked day! O day with hue so light. O day, whichever art when night  
  
is not. O day, o day! Alack, alack, alack, I fear this Anu before  
me is  
  
wrought out of Normandy.  
  
FAUNE  
  
{AS Anu}  
  
What lord is this from across the Channel? His face suits me, such bringing  
  
happiness to the heart. Who are thou standing there like a Helios?  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
O thee, I am Lleflys from the bonny isle of the angles, which not compared to the sight before me. I am fixed to the spot as if a wall is between us. O wall, o sweet, o lovely wall, that stand'st between me and her Thank what you will, I am at your grace, to spay and I can hear your voice so sweet  
like Limander am I trusty still the son of King BeliMawr.  
  
FAUNE  
  
{AS Anu}  
  
And I like Helen, until the Fates me kill.  
  
FALCON  
  
[aside]  
  
Careful what you ask of my mothers, they might give it to you.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.  
  
FAUNE  
  
{AS Anu}  
  
As Cephalus and Procris, I to you. O, kiss the wall's hole, not your lips  
  
at all.  
  
[they kiss]  
  
MANAWYDDAN  
  
[to FAND]  
  
Lady pearl, by my crane bag and sea horses, those two do not make a good  
  
lover well. I can see that by setting of my golden clasped shoes and Tairirnigiri ring that Matholwch wants to win a heart so right. For if  
you  
  
love anyone that son will be the origin for a knight of the lake.  
  
FAND  
  
[to Manawyddan]  
  
What? I rather sleep with you, kind sea lord, than Matholwch.  
  
[re-enter Bulle]  
  
Why not? I shall bed you this night.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Stand next to me dear, love, as we sit and meet my beleaguered brother in  
  
the Channel.  
  
FAUNE  
  
{AS Anu}  
  
Dear, dear Llefleys, I love your heart so.  
  
BOARE  
  
{AS Taranis}  
  
[off stage]  
  
Such which, Llud's kingdom is blighted by my curse. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!  
Ha!  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Ho brother, why meet us on our nuptials in the Channel and not in the land  
  
of Brigit?  
  
BULLE  
  
{AS Llud}  
  
Dear brother, I cannot, the hag-beauty Bride is set under plagues  
most horrendous. Every man marks the hour hoping it to be his last. For  
every  
  
grain in the glass is weight that hurts them more.  
  
BOARE  
  
{AS Taranis}  
  
[off-stage]  
  
Ha. Ha. Ha. My curse still.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Then adieu my Fand, my Anu, my first duty mist be to my countrymen  
and  
  
brother.  
  
FAUNE  
  
{AS Anu]  
  
Then with this kiss, I sent you off with luck that one day you might return  
  
it to me.  
  
[They kiss]  
  
BULLE  
  
{AS Llud}  
  
Luck and pence to you, brother, I must go to attend your wife at my castle  
  
thus.  
  
[Exit Faune and Bulle arm-in-arm]  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Now what plague causes my brother pains?  
  
[Enter Rate]  
  
RATE  
  
{AS the Corneid}  
  
I Rate, am the Corneid. My ears of wheat listen and hear every conversation  
  
in the isle. No secret is safe; I let everyone know what it is.  
Like  
  
Midas's ears the world knows all, dressed in sheaf and granule.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Then such I shall rid the land of thee.  
  
[Takes out a bottle, uncorks it]  
  
In this drought, I have keep bees. I set them free about you and send you  
  
from here.  
  
RATE  
  
{AS the Corneid}  
  
By bee's sting I am struck deaf, I go, yet the others will beat you yet for  
  
no man born of woman may defeat them truly.  
  
[exit Rat, Enter SWANE, and RAVENE]  
  
SWANE  
  
{AS the White Dragon}  
  
[fighting with wooden swords with Ravene]  
  
Roar. Roar. I with the scales of a wyrm, Swawn the Cordwainer, with wooden  
  
sword fight the red my opposite to the death. Roar. Roar.  
  
RAVENE  
  
{AS the Red Dragon}  
  
[fighting with wooden swords with Swane]  
  
Roar. Roar. Ravene the Habidasher gives no quarter to the White serpent. Roar. Roar. And in our fight the land grows pale and brings mountains to  
  
tremble. Roar. Roar.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Dragons ho. Why fight thou?  
  
SWANE {AS the White Dragon } and RAVENE AS the Red Dragon}  
  
[fighting with wooden swords]  
  
Roar, roar. Are you a knight to slay us and interfere with our just duel?  
  
Roar. Roar.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
No great dragons, I have brought you beer to quench your thirst for it is  
  
hot this day.  
  
SWANE {AS the White Dragon} and RAVENE  
  
{AS the Red Dragon}  
  
Roar. Roar. We then will drink. Roar. Roar.  
  
[Drinks the beer, falls to the ground]  
  
Roar. Roar. We have been tricked. Roar. Roar.  
  
HORSE  
  
{AS Llefleys}  
  
Drunken dragons, I kick you into the ground and you will be never  
seen  
  
again.  
  
[exit Swane and Ravene through a trap-door]  
  
FALCON  
  
Well then, this is well known. Two dragons sleep, drunk, underground, they shall wake and begin their fight anew in several generations. Still will I  
have much trouble explaining why  
  
Vortigern's bloody castle topples to the ground or let Bran's crows  
nest there and keep the monarchy safe. (6)  
  
GERN  
  
[draws a bow]  
  
And so will Bran, lulled by the play. Father, this is our chance, strike now or shall I? We should take pause from what came of Taranis, destroyed  
  
by the returned Beli after his hunt. Come shot, kill my uncle dead!  
  
[He shoots Bran in the leg]  
  
EXTENT  
  
One:  
  
Aspects of the muses Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomme, Polyhymnia,  
Terpischore, Thalia, Urania  
  
Two:  
  
Cunobelinus of Catuvellani, brother of King Beli Mawr of London (or Gaust Forest), can be translated as King Cymbeline. Beli, Celtic God of the Sun,  
enemy of Taranus, God of the Storms  
  
Three:  
  
White Stone, "The Bloody Tower," the Tower of London. 1st built as a fort by Julius Caesar; later tomb for King Bran; William the Conqueror, used the  
stone of the Tomb to build the White Tower. Legend has it if the crows leave the Tower, as a curse left by King Bran, the tower will fall into the  
sea and so will the monarchy.  
  
Four:  
  
Reference to Elizabeth the First or Midsummer's Night Dream with the flower  
that causes people to fall in love with one another  
  
Five:  
  
Beli, Celtic God of the Sun, natural enemy of Taranus, God of the Storms  
  
Six:  
  
Vortigern's castle. Each time the tyrant Vortigern tries to build his fortress, it falls. So only Merlin could tell him the secret that under it is the Red and White Dragon continuing their fight and the victor is the symbol that someday the Celts will be over-come by the Saxons. This was an  
omen use by Merlin that Arthur would soon be born. 


	12. Rod of Saint Morrius, The first Knight

Act 4 Scene 3 :  
  
Battlefield, the Second Night, Irish Camp.  
  
[sound of hacking meat. Clashing of steel]  
  
IRISH SOLDIER 1  
  
May day never come, everything is fight ever since Gern let loose the  
arrow.  
  
IRISH SOLDIER 2  
  
Even though wounded in the thigh by that bolt, Bran still strikes with lighting made steel blade. Listen, in the dark, our brothers and the others  
still fight on.  
  
IRISH SOLDIER 3  
  
It tis this way for one full day and this second night.  
  
GERN  
  
Fear not, father's afronriders for Eliawras have provided me with that  
quirrel infecting uncle Bran with belladonna poison.  
  
[enter Falcon disguised as Eliawras]  
  
Correct? I shot him well did I not, hugger of trees?  
  
FALCON  
  
[disguised as Eliawras]  
  
That is true, my prince. By the next midnight, your uncle will enter into  
the choir invisible.  
  
[aside]  
  
Ad for thee, unfaithful child... Your mother's bones at the base of the tower cry out to Jove for justice. The treason against your due king, you  
will soon have to pay your due to Jove's harpies.  
  
IRISH SOLDIER 4  
  
I fear for our souls for this fight may not be right and if so when we are  
judged the dead will cry out murderer on me.  
  
GERN  
  
Fear not, with Bran dead. By Eiru, Banbha, and Fodla I will receive the stone that Jacob sleep on and make me king. now, kiss me, and make it so.  
  
FALCON  
  
I shall kiss thee and set a destiny for you.  
  
[aside, kisses him on both cheeks]  
  
You will into Pluto's depths be tossed, there, Persiphone will set you next to Orpheus and say to you and your father, "Lord Hades, for six months out of the year I stay with you, yet these two amuse me so keep them here as my  
fools." With many-headed Cerberus at his side, Hades, will nod and say to his hell- hound keep them here and forgo any food if you let my lady lose her smile.  
  
GERN  
  
When you kissed me and muttered words, I felt cold like that old saying about someone stepping on my grave. Yet this must not bother me, I go to  
join my father this night in his fray.  
  
[exit Gern]  
  
IRISH SOLDER 2  
  
Then we best sharpen our blades.  
  
[enter Eliawras]  
  
Hold there, why are there two of you?  
  
FALCON  
  
Ha, ha!  
  
[drops his disguise]  
  
I am Falcon, child of Destiny, maker of kings, and now I have set everything to right your magic will be of no use in this fight. I rather  
have the fight even and fair, a duel to the death between titians.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
What have you done, sorcerer? What? Tell me spawn of unholy things, what  
curses that I must undo. For you damn this land.  
  
FALCON  
  
Nay, the days of many Gods are to fade, for that is the way of thing. The  
dragons fell to the giants and Titians, they to the many Gods.they will fall to, so will the elves and fairies, and someday man will go into the  
dreaming.  
  
ELIAWRAS  
  
What are you saying? Is that an insult? Do you want a duel -match our magic. Then by bat's blood, decapitated and flayed toads, baby fat, I curse  
thee to die by the hand of the one you love.  
  
FALCON  
  
Speak your poison elsewhere, Eliawras. Indegg you are, embroiler you will be (1). Cursed art thou above all the livestock and all the wild animals.  
  
[Falcon transforms him into an Asp (1, 2)]  
  
You will crawl on your belly hence; and will eat dust all the day of your life though when you nip at a black knight's heal a sword will raise and  
crush you.  
  
[exit Falcon]  
  
IRISH SOLDIER 3  
  
By this sight I fear what will the rising sun there bring as if Charon's  
boats is waiting ahead.  
  
ONE:  
  
Indegg, the embroiler of Britian. According to Welsh legend, the messenger Indegg was to negotiate between King Arthur and Mordred, but uttered it so badly that battle came.  
  
TWO:  
  
Asp, snake. Biblical reference and from Mallory's "Le Mort de Arthur", where during the negotiations a snake was seen and the Black Knight drew his sword to kill it, the flash of steel caused a battle to come and the death of Arthur.  
  
Act 4 Scene 4  
  
Battlefield, the Second Night, English Camp.  
  
[sound of hacking meat. Clashing of steel]  
  
WITCH 2  
  
{with Scales measuring (1)}  
  
Where have you been, sister on this day where two moons are in the same month - a very sacred and cursed day? This second moon red with blood an  
unhappy sight. (2).  
  
WITCH 1  
  
{with a drawn scythe (1)}  
  
With the moon and comet, I was out killing swine...  
  
{Enter Gwawl Llwyd }  
  
GWAWL LLWYD  
  
Pyrderi! Pyrderi the Welshman! Where are you? You stole my wife and cheated  
me! Face me and die. Be dragged back into the hell you came from. Hold,  
women, who are you to walk in this fight without fear of death?  
  
WITCH 3  
  
{with a sword (1)}  
  
Death is a commodity like any other is it not? We are here to sew up the dead in their clothes and take them beyond, even if you have been tricked  
into this fight.  
  
GWAWL LLWYD  
  
Then sewers of the dead and washers in the ford; take these alms and make  
your craft well. For I shall slay Pyrderi this night or the next.  
  
[Exit Gwawl Llwyd, looking for Pryderi]  
  
TENGAU  
  
Lord, lord, what bothers you, you know the sword well. Please kiss me. please love me. Even Manawyddan, brother of the king, has found some love  
this night.  
  
CARADOC  
  
Nay, Lady Tengau, I cannot. My father is not in his tent. I must keep him  
alive, for I shall not avenge him.  
  
WITCH 2  
  
Look well, Caradoc, Bran in the robes of the priest baptizing in the three- in-one God. Yet still here is an illusion of a great forest of wild beasts ready to tear him limb from limb. He exits into a field tended by shepherds  
with tress of silver vines hung with grapes. In there a beautiful woman  
sets him on the wheel and acclaim that, "You shall lose the game."  
  
WITCH 3  
  
Then Destiny shall spin her lots making him fall, crushing his jaw, and breaking his bones to be fed on by the wyrms. It be best to be with your  
mate, than look for a king, fate is fate.  
  
TENGAU  
  
How dare you say that woman to my lord, the prince and heir to the king? I  
just want him to say the words that I profess for him; that is all, not wish my lord's lord ill with Arthur's dream of being on Fortune's wheel. If we are to have children as Falcon has said, I will leave that up to my lord  
husband.  
  
CARADOC  
  
Husband? Name him, and I shall slay him. Nobody shall have Tengau, except  
for me!  
  
Extent.  
  
ONE:  
  
Sword, Scythe, Scales. Symbols of the horseman of the Apocalypse.  
  
TWO:  
  
Moon. A blue moon is considered lucky and unlucky in some circles; however,  
a blood moon is usually considered a bad omen of death and destruction. 


	13. Excalibur

Excalibur, Sword of power  
  
Act 5 Scene 1  
  
KING BRAN  
  
I cannot feel my legs anymore from the dreams of the night. It is not of fear for our Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones, for even this last night I in the raiment of piety's robes baptized many.  
That if one does not have passport this day we must that we few will be protected forever to never so vile protected by those above, but here the  
enemy marches on us, their offspring will be cut off.  
  
KENT  
  
Lord, If may be so that I see more banners this day than the last.  
  
ALBANY  
  
The banner of the caswallawn of the king's purse seems to be joining that of the clover, if only there were more of us here. More men to fight the traitor caswallawn and Matholwch, the Irish Tyrant, yet lo do many men are still asleep in England, safe and comfortable in their beds. O! For a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention to have more here; a kingdom for a stage, princes to act and monarchs to be holding the  
swelling scenes. (1)  
  
MANAWYDDAN  
  
Base is the man who wishes such, Lord Albany. Prince Camaalis, our Bran is here with the sword of power, like himself, assumes the port of Mars. (1)  
  
PRYDERI  
  
True, brother of the king, why we just need you and I – and we could teach the world a new meaning for the war. Here, lords on this plain meet Nissyen  
the traitor and Matholwch before us. Where here with fiery tongues a  
waggin' Pwyll and Gwen, son of Nudd,'s spectral hounds staining against their leashes (2)... the trumpet sounds this day's start, let the wyld hunt begin! Let the hounds loose! Should famine, sword and fire crouch here for  
employment!  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Hold your vigor, leek lord. Keep your mind true that slaughter should bet be gloried for it affronts the grace of heaven. We all have set our lives  
on a cast of the die, a turn on the heel where destiny says, "You shall  
loose the game." There across stands my brother and his son, despite this wound that graves  
me, I have charged at them many a time. Aillil, brother Manawyddan, a horse. Get me my horse for the son's light has stuck at us into the field  
that we must go. (3)  
  
AILLIL  
  
Yes, my king.  
  
KING BRAN  
  
Now lords, mount your steeds you, into the chariots fly. Let us show what we are made of- for our vitals will not be ransomed not at all. So on this day that live, will say to his comrades, that I was here and here with the King. Give toasts to our names; for lives are transitory, names live on as  
a story each generation tells his son from this day until the crack of doom. But now, we few, we happy few, we band on brothers shall be my true  
brother and hold their manhood on high if they fight on this day!  
  
[Extent.]  
  
ONE: Henry V  
  
TWO: Pwyll or Gwen, the Wild Hunt and lord of the Celtic underworld, with ghost  
hounds to bring the dead to rest.  
  
THREE:  
Taken from Richard III  
  
Act 5 Scene 2  
  
Battle  
  
GWAWL LLWYD  
  
Pryderi ApPwwyll, Welsh Lord, evil spirit in material form, where art thou!  
Come to blows me in this contest for the reputation of my flowery lady!  
  
PRYDERI  
  
Here, summer-lord. Here stands frosty death with his blustery weather wolves; I in addition feel affection for my treasured spring flower. (1) She is mine, purchased and duty-bound to me from the peer of the realm of  
Eurosyod.  
  
[Enter Nissyen]  
  
GWAWL LLWYD  
  
Liar! hypocrite! I never have seen thy face but I think upon hellfire! It  
does not make substance of what happened in that what went before -  
exchange blows with me now! The clash begins!  
  
PRYDERI  
  
Yes, start on. You wrapped away my domicile, dog, beaker, and grain for the  
sake of her. You scullion! You rampallian! You fustillarian! I shall at  
this juncture on this sports ground tickle your catastophe!  
  
[They fight with swords briefly; Nissyen draws his sword and kills Gwawl]  
  
NISSYEN  
  
You should express gratitude towards me for this fall removing summer. The provisions of Gwawl Llwd and now mine your dwelling, consort, dog, goblet,  
and grain have been harvested with this sickle.  
  
PRYDERI  
  
Then meet winter wolves, pot of wrinkles! How dare you cut short a lawful swordfight, how have the courage to have you fracture my reputation! Now the harvest-lord, treasurer, turncoat shall be reaped by the bleak hounds  
of wintry anguish.  
  
[He exits as his hounds tear Nissyen apart]  
  
GERN  
[To Caradoc]  
  
So cousin, we congregate. I even the score my father on yours. HA! Your  
sovereign lies at hand in fractions, skull there carcass nearby crying about the death of his Dragonfly on my father's pike. So much settling of  
scores here, the opera is almost concluded. HA! Matholwch's ill-gotten  
lance shatter inside Prince Camaalis's side, the blade of supremacy  
slaughters him. Then I thrust in and am rid of his cranium, now I shall send you to your father and take your wife as mine and my father's wife as  
mine as well.  
  
CARADOC  
  
Then that Atlantis-surviving changeling did not be economical with the  
truth. Here I stand to retaliate Bran, once called Camaalis, the brutal prince. At least you are at my side my lady, Tengau. I rather die than let  
Gern take you as his wife! You are mine, Princess Tengau! And no one  
else's!  
  
TENGAU  
[enter Falcon]  
  
Speak of the devil, now what? I will not be a cuckold of Fand.  
  
FALCON  
  
Do not worry of Fand, she is now the love of Manawwydan until his wife  
Rhiannon kills her. Watch here, Cardoc takes up his father's blade, the  
sword of power.  
  
[Gern and Caradoc fight on and on. Eventually, after losing an arm, Caradoc  
kills Gern.]  
  
TENGAU  
[putting kisses on him]  
  
My lord my lord! How dare you hurt yourself, your wife worries so.  
  
FALCON  
  
Let her worry, I must keep my word to Vivienne. Give me the sword, King  
Caradoc.  
  
BOTH  
  
What? He belongs to us; lighting made steel belongs to our sons.  
  
FALCON  
  
I will make it simple. King Caradoc, your father is not dead, though beheaded. It is the sword's curse, that if mortally wounded you shall live on and on in pain until the sword is returned to the Isle of Apples, the  
isle of Avalon, the land of dreams.  
  
TENGAU  
  
You perjure yourself, sorcerer and druid. The king is dead; long live the  
king. If we give up the sword, where will it go to, it belongs to our  
family?  
  
KING BRAN  
[His head lying on the floor]  
  
King Bran speaks here, the demon-child cannot lie in this case, do what he says. For I believe him now, there shall be a greater king than me to carry the sword of power. As your father, as your king, I ask you to toss it away into the water and let it be gone. But falcon, I entreat to you that you  
should advise that greater king.  
  
FALCON  
  
Aye, my lord, for that is what destiny wants for the Pendragon. For under him, the sword of power will have a real name. The bear-lord, Arthur, will gather around him a group of heroes to sit at a great table in a castle of  
silver and gold, atop where wooden Camaalis stood, calling it Camelot.  
  
CARADOC  
  
[Tosses the sword]  
  
Then anon father I will obey you so you can rest. Now go, await a greater  
man then thee, Excalibur, the sword of power.  
  
[A hand grabs it and takes it down into the waters]  
  
Come, wife Tengau, we have children to make and a father to burry in  
London's tower.  
  
[Extent all, except Falcon]  
  
FALCON  
  
The play is over, please excuse and do not flame this author's unworthy  
work but give alms of one hand against another in a clap making a holy sound. And do not consider I, poor Falcon, maker of kings as a cruel man or a child of some sort of dragon. I am an honest Merylin, take my hand and  
let us call this the End.  
  
FIN  
  
ONE: A very traditional battle between summer, Gwawl Llwyd, and winter, Pryderi, over spring. 


End file.
